Chapter 23: Flyin' High

Juice had no idea how much time had passed when he felt her under his chin, nudging him with warm kisses. He dipped his head lower to meet her lips, their slow velvety kiss, lazy and long. In no hurry, they rested between kisses, touching for connection - each feeling far too raw and exposed to speak on what had just happened between them. Eventually, the gentle ministrations turned sensual and soothing turned into wanting. Raniyah draped her leg over his thigh, letting his new growing arousal press against her in a slow grind that had her moaning into his mouth. Rolling her, he sought the soft skin covering her neck and chest and lower. He dropped lazy nips on her breasts and nibbles on her ribs only to wander back up and graze her nipples with his teeth in a tease that had her raising her hips up to meet him again. The laps of his tongue on her stomach and his hands turning her onto her side to trail his fingers and lips over her hip had her gripping his head and sighing out her pleasure.

Reaching blindly for his jeans on the floor to get another condom, he chuckled surprised when she wiggled out from under him, climbing halfway onto his back. For a moment he just lay there, his head and shoulder hanging limply off of the bed, while she explored him with kisses and bites. Feeling her naked breasts pressed on his back was a lush sensation he knew he was going to crave later - so were her licks and nibbles on his lower back and butt.

"Jesus, Ronnie," Juice groaned into the edge of the mattress. Laying on his hard-on was getting uncomfortable, his dick throbbed every time she ran her fingers along the crevice between his solid, muscled butt cheeks or along the backs of his thighs. With his tension increasing, he chuckled and twitched, "Okay, damn!"

Without warning, he rolled over bringing his pants with him and Raniyah yelped, sliding off of him. Giggling she tried to push him back into position but his solid wall of a chest didn't budge. Juice scoffed at her attempt and laughed, pushing her onto her back with one hand. "Not a chance, girl."

He muffled her giggle with his smiling mouth, kissing her fast and hard. One of his hands palmed her breast, squeezing and tugging her hard peak between his middle and fourth fingers - while he buried the other under her, squeezing and releasing her butt in the rhythm of his heated kisses. She savored the weight of him slowly rolling on top of her, pressing her down into the mattress, automatically spreading her legs to accommodate him.

Feeling his tip slipping between her slick folds, he shuddered at the delicious sensation and tore his mouth away from hers, bucking to pull his hips away. "Shit!"

Staring up into his startled face, Raniyah bit her lip, eyes playful and Juice gave her a stern look. She snickered at the slip-up and his reaction but Juice made a growling sound in his throat, moving down in the bed a bit to prevent all contact with that region. It was bad enough he had gotten a taste he just got of how good it would feel to sink into her unencumbered by latex. To know that it had kicked up a yearning he couldn't satisfy, he did not need her teasing him with it, too.

Tilting him back to lean on his elbow, a sneaky smile danced on her lips when she reached down to run her fingers over the length of him. First timidly then with confidence, loving the way his face changed and his eyes clouded over, softening. Raniyah found an intense thrill in being responsible for the way his head dropped down in bliss…or was it agony? She stroked him slowly while her other hand explored the plains and ripples of the muscles of his back that she couldn't get enough of. Juice was momentarily immobilized. He knew the pleasure they could create together now but hadn't thought about the pleasure she could give him separately.

"You're killing me." His admission held more of a plea than he intended it to. She felt a full body flush of heat from the raw hunger that flashed in his eyes, her bones instantly going liquid.

"Good."

Juice pulled away and sat up quickly. Leaning back on his heels between her legs, she loved the powerful picture he painted - his face pure concentration opening the condom wrapper. His rock-solid chest and abdomen guided her eyes lower to him holding himself to roll it on. He couldn't know how sexy he was, she thought. There was no way he knew. Juice paused catching the look of pure lust on her face. It rendered him frozen until she sat up some to be able to run her hand up and down his torso. Silently he watched her hand, then her leaning forward. Raniyah laved her tongue over his nipple, loving the sound of him sucking in air when she bit down. She brushed his hands away when he reached for her. Scooting closer she bent her head low and leaned around him to mouth and suck the tight skin on his side, smiling into the muscle when his breath came out in a quick chuckle.

"Hey," he managed to get out but Raniyah was immersed in her quest to get more of those sounds out of him. She wanted to be able to see him, all of him, just like this - so minutes later he was on his back, pressed down by her weight on his legs. Juice forgot how to breathe as Raniyah sank down on his pulsing length, inch by inch. He fought his eyes wanting to flutter closed. He didn't want to miss a thing. He was mesmerized by her, caught up in the way she sat above him - straddling him, brazen and beautiful. His breathing turned to pants when she leaned slightly forward with her hair cascading down, still running her hands over him. He marveled at the fact that she was still looking him over like he was the most magnificent thing she'd ever seen. Had anyone ever looked at him like that?

Her hands were like weapons created for wrecking his nervous system. She continued the measured roll of her hips and reached behind her to lightly scratch and drag her nails up from his knees to his thighs where her bottom rested and then up his torso to his ears setting off bursts of electric sparks all over him. All of it made him desperate to grip her hips and thrust up into her but she wouldn't let him touch her. He had tried…God how he had tried. But she captured his wrists and pressed them back down into the mattress with a shake of her head again and again. So with his hands gripping the pillow under his head, he lay with his mouth gaped open, dumbstruck - barely able to close it to wet his throat while she rocked and bounced.

Floating away, he let his eyes close. He let his groans and sharp curses speak to her, while he twisted and arched under her. She felt so good. But as she picked up momentum, he opened his eyes again to watch the source of his pleasure with her head thrown back, whispering and whimpering as if she wasn't the one controlling them both. Dazed, his gaze traveled over her, her every move and sound provoking him to lose control. Giving in to the coil tightening in her abdomen, she fell forward locking her elbows, gripping the dense muscle of his chest almost painfully.

"Shit yeah," he ground out through gritted teeth, twisting the comforter in his fists, wanting more. Wanting faster, harder. And as if he had said it out loud, Raniyah gave him exactly that.

Juice's head shot up off the pillow at the switch-up, "Shit!"

His eyes pleaded to be allowed contact. His unfulfilled need to touch her, to hold on to her was somehow suppressing his orgasm - bringing him to the exquisite edge and holding him prisoner there. Looking up into her eyes with her pupils blown wide, he snatched her head down for a kiss and knew he couldn't let go. Sitting up, he wrapped his arm around her, scooting them both back in the bed until his back hit the headboard and they began to move together. Kissing her between gasping breaths, the colors behind his eyelids were vivid. Greedy, he swallowed her cries and sucked the salt from her skin as far as his mouth could reach. Gripping her hips, he absorbed the tiny bursts of helpless sound that she screamed into his shoulder on her every down stroke.

"Oh! God!" Unhinged, she bounced and twisted in his lap, grinding down hard. He could feel her arms around his neck and her thighs at his hips locking in - muscles cinched tight. "Oh shit! Jay! JAY!"

That was what he needed to push him off the edge. The name that she had branded on him, in pure love and loyalty twelve years ago that made him hers. That name was the last thing he heard before finally leaning into the abyss. Then feeling her clamp down around him, shaking in his arms, it was with a choked-out roar that he fell in, only able to whisper hers in return.

0.o.0.o.0

Forcing themselves to stay awake long enough to clean up they collapsed back into bed. Raniyah immediately took up position in Juice's arms, her head a much welcome weight on his chest while he reached down to pull the comforter over them, his eyes already closed.

But on the edge of sleep, his mind sparked to life, ruining his peace. He loved her. He knew it. He hated it. He couldn't control it. She had always been the very best of him and having her there in Charming made him feel even more complete than it did 7 years ago.

"Jay," she lifted her head, dragging his chin to turn his face toward her. In the dark, she couldn't study his eyes but she could feel him. His jaw was tense, his heart rate increasing, and his arm around her not as relaxed and loose as it first was. Cupping his cheek, she strained up to kiss him, sweet and soft.

"Stop it," she whispered.

"What?"

"Thinking."

He knew she was smiling and she waited to feel his body relax in acceptance before she let her head drop back down, kissing his chest before snuggling back into him and dozing off. She didn't see the smile spread across his face in the shadows. No one will ever know me as well as she does.

0.o.0.o.0

12:22 am. Juice stood in the bathroom, staring into the mirror, stressed out of his mind. He was calm when he fell asleep but now he was wide awake and worried that they had made a mistake. What now? He paced in the tiny space, coming back to the mirror above the sink. If he had to actually give up their friendship because of his dick…the thought had him gripping the sink, white-knuckled. Was it worth it? His eyes automatically closed while his brain began to recall it all. Looking into the mirror again, he blew out an audible exhale - his neck and chest were littered with faint discolorations reminding him just how 'worth it' it was. It was some comfort knowing that he hadn't pushed for it, she had wanted to - there was no doubt about that, but at what price?

12:26 am. Raniyah woke up alone in a darkened room. She frowned running her arm over the empty space next to her. Sitting up, her eyes adjusted enough to the dark to see that a sliver of light showed at the bottom of the bathroom door. She squirmed out of the comforter that had twisted up on her leg to stretch. Spreading out to take up the whole space, she pointed her toes and wriggled them, feeling the slight ache between her legs and the way the muscles in her thighs protested her movements.

She'd had sex before. Some of it great, some of it lackluster but being with Jay…my god. She lay back on her pillow with a tiny smile, biting her thumbnail until insecurity rolled in. What if this was it? How could they be more? Raniyah's heart constricted at the thought that they wouldn't be able to remain friends after this.

Did they just ruin everything?

"We fucked up," she whispered out loud to her fears floating around in the dark.

The bathroom light clicked off and the door opened. Raniyah sensed his movement crossing the room. Once closer to the bed, the light from the window behind him outlined his shadowy form moving in the dark. Unaware that she was awake, he climbed in carefully.

From her pillow, she whispered, "Hey, boy."

He couldn't make out her face but her voice sounded normal to him, "Hey, girl."

She waited until he settled in and stopped moving to ask, "You okay?"

"Yeah…you?"

In the dark, her ears analyzed his voice for regret, while he did the same for her. She reached for him in answer to his question. Able now to make out the features of his face, Raniyah cupped his cheek and tugged his ear, leaning closer. "I am."

Juice's eyes had adjusted to the lack of light enough to be able to see the contrast of her skin to her hair, wishing he could see her eyes better. Brushing her tangled mess back, he cupped his hand behind her head, enjoying the feel of her hair spilling on his fingers and wrist. There was no lust present when their lips found each other's. It was for connection, for comfort. A unified squelching of their fear of the unknown. Leaving worry for tomorrow they wrapped up in each other, legs entwined and let sleep come again.

0.o.0.o.0

Juice crawled out of a deep sleep, half in and half out of the covers. He was flat on his face with an arm flung across Raniyah's stomach. Recognizing the warm skin under his arm his first thought was…She's naked. His second thought…I'm naked. With half-closed eyes, a smile starts to form on his face. He tried to move lightly, re-positioning himself on his side to look at her. He was glad they never got up to close the black-out curtains last night so he could see her now in the dim morning light. Despite how careful he had been she stirred, coming out of sleep with a frown.

Juice kept his voice low. "Hi."

"Uhn-uh," she grumbled and rolled away from him, tucking herself into a ball.

Juice's smile was faint and slightly apologetic. If he hadn't already known how slow she was to wake up he might have been offended. Reaching out, he put his hand spread wide on her back and ran his palm up and down her spine until she let out a deep groan. Edging closer to her, he wriggled his arm under hers to wrap around her waist and pulled her closer. As he expected, she gasped feeling his warm, naked body crushed up against her and burst into giggles, her face warming up along with other places, too.

"You awake now?" he rumbled into the back of her neck.

"Very." Her face went hot as all of the night before came rushing back.

She rubbed and squeezed his arm around her then peeled it off. She wriggled away to be able to roll over and face him. Rubbing her eyes, she smiled as close to bashful as he'd ever seen her. "Hi."

Juice tucked his hands between the bed and his pillow, "We gotta get up."

"No." she pouted, closing her eyes again. A second later, she opened them again. "Oh shit."

"What?"

"All my stuff is packed."

"Oh yeah," he grimaced. "We were supposed to move you yesterday."

"Yeah."

Juice grinned as she lunged forward, wrapping herself around him in an attempt to sabotage his attempts to leave the bed. "But this is better."

Kissing his jaw and cheek and lips, she knew she was winning when his arms came around her in slow squeezes while they kissed.

"We have to go," he muttered against her neck, before pulling away.

Juice clicked on the lamp and pulled on his boxers. Picking up her clothes, he laid them on the bed while she whined.

Tugging on the covers, from where he stood beside the bed he told her, "We have like an hour and a half. You got work today?"

"Ugh! Yes," she grumped.

Popping his tee shirt to loosen the wrinkles, he hung it on the chair and crawled back onto the bed and landed on her. "You get dressed and point and I'll put all the stuff in your truck. We'll just hurry so you can get ready at my house."

Smiling under his weight, she realized that she really liked this 'take charge' version of him. "Okay."

When she hesitated to come out from under the covers and Juice's face blossomed into his familiar lopsided grin. "Really?"

"Shut up."

He made a show of turning around so she could climb out of the bed and slip on her panties. She turned her back to put on her bra and when she turned around to grab her shorts he was sitting on the other bed with his pants on but unfastened still with no shirt on, watching her. His chuckle bounced through his chest. She didn't bother turning away again as she put on her shorts and shirt. Meeting his eyes, she twisted her lips to stop the smile twitching there. "Stop laughing at me."

"I'm not!" he protested then immediately laughed. Raniyah chucked a pillow at him which he batted away. His laughter, joyful and teasing, stripped away any embarrassment she might have had left. "C'mere," he motioned to her.

Standing between his legs, he wrapped his arms around her hips and hugged her tight. She stroked his head when he looked up at her. "You still wanna be at my house, right?"

"Yep."

Relief peeked out, passing over his face before he kissed her stomach, "Good. Lemme get my boots. Then I'll pack the truck."

Raniyah went to slip into her shoes, "I can help."

Fastening his belt, he picked up her suitcase and all three bags by the door, "No, you won't."

Propping the door open when he came back, she pointed and he carried, needing only three trips to clear the room of the all things she came with plus the purchases she had made since she got there.

"Let's go."

0.o.0.o.0

Juice had showered and gotten Raniyah set up with his Wi-Fi just in time to pull into TM's lot right behind Chibs. Dismounting, he smiled greeting him and Chibs who had started to light a cigarette, clicked his lighter closed and narrowed his eyes at Juice.

Juice instantly felt the pinpricks of anxiousness and broke out in a sweat, "What?"

Chibs looked at him a second longer and shook his head. His scars dipped on the smile he was suppressing.

Juice looked down at himself, automatically checking his zipper, "What?!"

"Tis a good mornin', Juicy?"

Juice's face screwed up, his shoulders in a high shrug. "Yeah?"

Chibs' raised eyebrows reminded Juice of his time as a prospect under him and had him sputtering, "I mean…it's cool, I guess. Sure, Chibby."

Lighting his cigarette, Chibs nodded and blew out a stream of smoke, walking with Juice. "An' 'twas a good night, eh?"

Juice's head whipped toward the older man. Shit.

Just as quickly, the panicked look fell off Juice's face and his smile spread before he could stop it. Chibs chuckled and slapped his hand down on the back of Juice's neck to give him a squeeze. "Yer flyin' high, laddie. Ya migh' wanna land a bit 'fore going in there, yeah?"

Juice nodded. Part of him wished he had a better poker face with Chibs. And the other part of him wanted to tell him everything and get some advice because he and Ronnie had managed to not talk about a damn thing all morning. He and Chibs walked over to the patio where Tig had just appeared and true to all things Tiggy he was on him after one glance, squinting.

"You motherfucker," he dragged out the sentence in a low, menacing voice. Juice froze, wide-eyed, sure of what was coming. How does he always know? Tig pointed his thick finger at Juice's chest and gave it two thumps. "You did it. You fucked our little sister, you son-of-a-bitch."

Juice opened his mouth to deny it and couldn't even come close to forming a sentence. His shoulders drooped and his head dropped down in disbelief. He'd been there five minutes and had been pegged. Twice. He silently thanked god that Raniyah's calendar was full and she wasn't going to be coming by today.

"Come on Tiggy, just this once don't."

And for once, he didn't. Tig grabbed Juice roughly around the neck, tapped him lightly with a rib punch and walked him hunched over into the clubhouse with a saucy grin and a naughty chuckle. Juice's responding grin, flustered and boyish had Tig tossing his head back and laughing. "You owe me big time, shithead."

.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sneaking this chapter in on the last day of April and we are getting closer to the end of this story. I don't know how many chapters are left just yet I'm trying to break things up properly, but out of curiosity...do you want to know? As a reader, I have mixed feelings about it so drop me a note. Let me know. Majority rules and all that. Anyhoo, thank you for reading and following and favoriting this story (and me as an author). I'm having a fabulous time! See you next chapter. Love always, *kjx*