Wood and Roses

“Mm mm.” Mercedes shook her head firmly, swatting his hands away as they toyed with the flimsy fabric covering her last shred of modesty.

“No?”

“Not yet.” She mumbled, her lips brushing his side. She had waited entirely too long to be here again, in this bed with this man and she’d be damned if he’d rob her of the experience. She took all of him in directing her gaze upwards to meet his as she sucked lightly at the indentation made by his hip bone. Two hands slid slowly up the length of his body and a moan that was barely audible escaped her lips. The feel of his taught muscles under her palms sent an odd sensation through her. The body under her that had at one time been so familiar was new to her again and she was relishing in it. Excitement, nervousness and heat coursed through her as she delved lower, placing a soft kiss just below her last.

Jack stopped one of her hands as it traveled up his chest and placed a finger in his mouth. Another low moan escaped Mercedes’ lips as he ran his tongue over the soft flesh, sucking and licking deliciously before moving on to the next finger.

Mercedes had been so caught up in the rest of Jack’s anatomy that she had momentarily forgotten entirely what she had set out to do. She felt a heat rising slowly in her as he continued to suck and his growing erection brushed against her breasts teasingly as she continued downward.

She brought her gaze up to meet his, hoping that the nervousness that was suddenly coursing through her was not plain on her features. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and she quirked a brow, running her tongue slowly over her lips. He smiled back, biting his bottom lip and locking her into an intense stare. She held his gaze for a moment before an uncharacteristic blush crept to her cheeks and she lowered her eyes once more, dipping her head to the base of his shaft and running her tongue slowly up its length.

“No.” His voice was low and gravelly as he ground out his command. “I want you to look at me.”

Mercedes steeled herself for a half a second before returning her gaze to his. Intense blue eyes met with equally intense green ones and for a moment she was frozen there. Tilting her head to the side she once again ran her tongue slowly up the length of his shaft, moving slightly to the side and repeating the ministrations. Jack continued to watch her, though his features had slackened noticeably and she could do nothing to look away.

Heat coursed through Mercedes at Jack’s stare and her body felt like she had suddenly received an electric jolt, skin burning, nerves humming and a heartbeat that seemed to have moved to her head and her pussy. She finally lowered her gaze again as she took him into her mouth, swiveling from left to right as she moved slowly up and down, loving the feeling of how huge he felt in her mouth. She heard the distinct thunk as his head hit the head board and a hand reached out to burry itself in her hair.

“Mmmm…” He murmured as she brought one hand up to cup his balls the other reaching between her own two legs and massaging her own aching clit. She moaned deep into her throat and Jack hissed at the sudden vibration against his dick. She withdrew her mouth again, trailing her tongue in a zig-zag pattern up his shaft and running it along the underside of the head.

“You like that baby?” She asked, trying to contain the moan she was drawing from her own lips as she inserted on finger inside soaking wet pussy.

“Yeah...I fuckin like that…” Jack had lifted his head from the headboard and was watching intently as Mercedes continued to finger herself, licking and sucking teasingly on his cock and meeting his gaze, half lidded. When she finally let out a low, throaty moan and closed her eyes, Jack came forward, pulling them both with little difficulty into a sitting position and kissing her hungrily. Mercedes returned the kiss with a passion and longing that hadn’t left her alone once in the past two years and she moaned into his mouth, coming up onto her knees and pulling off the panties that were the only barrier between the two.

She swooped down and captured his mouth in hers again, coming forward and lowering herself in one swift motion, taking him fully inside of her. Jack muttered a curse under his breath and pressed his forehead to hers as they began moving together. Slow, passionate and with a heat that neither had experience before. They drew out the thrusts, allowing it to build up to an agonizing intensity. Each thrust brought a moan to their lips, a hungry, pleading kiss, a soft searching caress…

Jack brought one strong arm around her lower back and pulled her close, flipping them over and thrusting deep inside her. Both found themselves locked in a gaze that neither could break as Jack increased the pace and they moaned together, low and throaty, trying desperately not to be heard. Grabbing both of Mercedes’ legs he pushed them roughly over his own shoulders and began thrusting faster, deeper, harder. She finally broke his gaze, only to turn her head into the pillow and muffle the moan that she could not contain. Jack’s features we set firmly, jaw locked as he tried to contain the noises that rose to his throat, eyes locked onto the woman beneath him.

He could feel her nearing her climax, tightening around him and pulling him deeper.

“Jesus…” He ground out and he thrust harder and faster, knowing he couldn’t hold out much longer. “You gonna cum babe?”

“Yeah…” The words were pleading, and came out in a loud moan. Jack immediately clamped his hand down over her mouth and leaned in close to her ear.

“You gonna cum babe?” She nodded into his hand desperately, kissing the inside of it and moving up to meet his thrusts. “Come on babe…cum with me.” His voice was low, commanding and he pumped furiously into her, both clutching at each other and moving together. Mercedes came, and Jack came a half a second later.

The two lay motionless, panting. The sheets were soaked in the same sweat that covered the two bodies in the middle of the bed, kissing each other lightly between panting breaths and murmuring promises back and forth, eyes unflinchingly set on one another.

“I missed you.” She smiled into his mouth, placing a peck lightly there.

“Why did you go?” Though it was spoken softly, the voice demanded an answer and Mercedes sighed. She released her grip on his neck and fell back onto the pillow, running a hand up to the side of her face and brushing the hair away that had been stuck there. She groaned as Jack pulled out of her slowly, rolling off to the side and lying down on the damp mattress. His eyes remained trained on the ceiling as he gently brushed the side of Mercedes’ arm with the back of his fingers, letting the touch linger there.

“Jack…”

“I want to know, Mer. You owe me that much.” It was spoken quietly and Mer winced at the anger he had no doubt been trying to keep from being heard. There was a deafening silence between them as they laid there, neither looking at the other. Mercedes was pinching the bridge of her nose and massaging it in small circles, trying to clear her thoughts…this wasn’t a story she had ever wanted to tell Jack, though she had known in the back of her mind that she would eventually have to. She let out a long breath that she hadn’t realized she had been holding.

“Alright…”

---Flashback---
The full summer moon shone down on Mercedes as she made her way towards the run down apartment buildings she had hoped never to see again. As she neared, she could almost hear the clink of glass against glass, faded sounds of drunken laughter, the collective sniffling as one by one everyone finished another rail. She shuddered, dropping her head as she ascended the front steps and came to the front door. Her hand paused an inch from the buzzer and she exhaled slowly, trying to force out along with her breath the feelings of dread and self disgust this place brought back.

Pressing down on the button, she waited. It wasn’t a long wait, the front door buzzed promptly and she opened it, stepping inside and making her way quickly up the old wooden stairs and to the apartment on the second floor. She could hear trance music coming down the hall, the sound of people trying to talk over the steady beat, girlish giggles that she knew all too well…giggles that had once been her own.

She made her way down the hall quickly, squaring her shoulders, rolling her neck, trying desperately to muster some form of courage or at least the ability to fake it. As Mercedes reached the door, she didn’t even consider knocking. The door opened and she was immediately hit in the face with a cloud of smoke. The mingled remnants of a long session with the hookah and cigarette smoke drifted in the air and she paused in the entrance, allowing her eyes to adjust. All the old faces were there, faces of men she had hope reverently never to see again and faces of the girls who had taken her place soon after she had left. Empty beer bottles filled with cigarette butts covered every flat surface of the small dank apartment and a mirror sat on the kitchen counter with a few rails of cocaine and MDMA left unattended.

Nobody seemed to notice Mer’s presence among them and as she stepped fully into the group she doubted entirely that they would have seen her had she been standing a few inches from their faces. Scanning the crowd she sighed, becoming more anxious by the second as she realized that the person she had come here for was not in the main room. A shudder went through her as she gazed above the heads and down a narrow hallway to a rotting paint-chipped door. Pushing past the partiers she struggled through the crowd, oblivious to anything but her destination and what she might find behind that dreaded door.

Blood was pumping faster and faster throughout her body with each step and by the time she reached for the doorknob she was shaking with anger…this couldn’t be right, there had to be some kind of mistake.

The door slammed opened with great force and two shocked faces stared up at her first in surprise, then rage. The room was a sparsely furnished bedroom, one sheetless blanketless mattress sat unceremoniously on the floor in the middle of the room, the odd milk crates around it serving as a bedside table and chairs.

Sitting on the bed were two men, one she knew all too well and one she didn’t know at all. Between them there was a girl. She was lying on her back, her face away from view, and a syringe hanging from the vein in her right foot. Beside the bed were the purse and jacket she had been so terrified of seeing there.

Mercedes lunged forward before the room’s occupants had a chance to react and ripped the syringe from the young girls foot, throwing it angrily at the boy beside her.

“Mer…calm down Mer it’s not…it’s not…you’re not supposed to like…you’re not even here man.” A man in his late twenties sat on the edge of the bed, dark shoots of unwashed hair sticking out in every direction, a thin gold chain hanging from his unclothed neck. His features were drawn downwards, skin sunken in and an odd shade of grey. Mercedes refused to meet this mans eyes, she couldn’t. That was the face of a man that had given her nightmares for months and now she found herself terrified to look upon him again.

“Fuck you Alex.” She spat over her shoulder as she leaned towards the girl and pulled her into a sitting position. The man in question tried to rise from his place on the mattress but seemed to be having difficulty achieving any coordination at all. His eyes lulled back into his head momentarily, pupils the size of saucers, hands shaky and clammy he grabbed feebly at Mercedes’ wrist.

“No…she can’t leave….she owes me man.” Mercedes wrenched her wrist free from his grip and continued attending to the girl.

“She owes you, you piece of shit? Just like I fucking owed you huh? It wasn’t good enough you fucked me up but you had to go for her too didn’t you you disgusting pig…she’s my fucking sister…fucking bastard.” She was spitting fire, pulling her younger sister to her feet and sighing as the girl tipped backwards towards the bed.

“Mermaid…” The girl’s eyes widened and she tried to stand but fell. “Where did you…how…I’m…I wanna go home.”

“I know sweetie. I’m taking you home. Don’t worry babe I’m here.” She brushed the hair from her sister’s face and slung the waif-like creature over her shoulder, trying to push the tears from her eyes. She was supposed to be the older sister, the protector…and she had failed. As she turned towards the door she was greeted by a wide chest clad in a tight black t-shirt. Looking up she glared dangerously into the eyes of a man she’d never seen before, though she was sure he was just another one of Alex’s cronies, harmless and too tweaked to stop a butterfly.

“You can take her home in a minute, just as soon as she pays us.” He said, unmoving under her steely gaze. Mercedes realized with a sinking feeling that this man wasn’t tweaked, he didn’t look like a user. She gave a quick appraisal of his arms and found no track marks and his pupils seemed normal enough. This made him a supplier and much more difficult to deal with.

“How much does she owe you?” She asked, shifting her sister’s weight and digging into her pocket. “I have some cash on me, all of it’s yours kay, I just need to get the kid home.”

“Money…I got money.” He smirked, shooting a knowing glance at Alex, though it was lost on the junkie who was presently studying the patterns on the mattress intently. The man turned his gaze back down to Mercedes and his eyes ran up the length of her, a lewd expression crossing over his features. “We had another arrangement all set up….a business transaction. I came through on my side of the deal…” He chuckled and gestured towards the girl who was nearly comatose over Mercedes’ left shoulder. “Now it’s time for her to come through on hers…unless that is you’ll be paying for the lady.”

“You’re disgusting.” Mercedes spat trying to move past him towards the door. Though her outermost expression was that of rage and disgust, her insides were screaming. There was a terror thundering in her ears that made her hands shake as she reached into her pocket again. “Just take the goddamn money and buy yourself a good time somewhere else.”

“Come on Mer…” Mercedes turned at the sound of her name and saw Alex was standing now, smiling crookedly and wavering on his feet. He was coming down from his high and it wouldn’t be long now before he was right again…and more than anything else Mercedes didn’t want to be around him when that happened. “You’re a pro at this kind of thing girl…I remember…”

“Look I-”

“You or your sister lady and nobody’s leaving till I get paid.” The man stood unmoving in front of the door, arms crossed. His face told Mercedes that he was quickly losing patience in this whole ordeal and it wouldn’t be long until he simply took by force what was owed to him from her sister. Mercedes nodded, swallowing and looking down at her feet.

Thoughts of Jackie boy flashed through her head and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out his voice, his face... She turned mechanically, as if not on her own accord and set her sister down gently on the floor. When she turned back around she was faced by Alex and his supplier, both standing bye the door, both staring hungrily at her younger sister.

“Not her.” She bit out, crossing her arms protectively over her chest and still not meeting their gazes. The room seemed to be getting smaller, closing in, voice and faces were brought back to the front of her mind with alarming speed and she wavered on her feet. “Not my sister.”

Both men chuckled and regarded each other briefly before Alex stepped back and made a swooping bow towards the bed. “You first man, I been there before…besides it was your shit, s’only fair.”

Mercedes had blocked out all noise and movement and was lying stoically on the bed. She could feel vomit churning in her stomach and threatening to rise, but she suppressed it. She could hear the music coming from the main room and focused on it, all her energy on the music, making it feel almost dreamlike as a weight was present at the edge of the bed. She began mouthing along to Nine Inch Nails- Right Where It Belongs, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Mercedes was grabbed then and roughly flipped over onto her stomach, jeans pulled quickly down and a hand reaching up to yank a fistful of her hair backwards, pulling her back into a painful arch. As Alex’s supplier made his first thrust into her Mercedes closed her eyes and took herself somewhere else, anywhere else than here.


By the time she rounded the corner to Dee’s Coffee Hut about a block away from home, her sister Hailey was walking on her own, dark sunken in eyes cast onto the sidewalk, feet shuffling on the ground as they neared the front entrance. Mercedes had been chain smoking since they’d left the apartment and continued to do so as they entered the small badly lit establishment. She fished into her pocket and dug out a ten, handing it to Hailey and nodding towards the front counter.

“Get yourself some breakfast and I want a coffee, black.” She muttered, crossing back towards the row of tables that sat by the window and taking a seat. She winced and let out a loud hiss as she sat down on the hard wood of the chair, trying to shift her weight off of the bruising that she knew was forming between her legs.

The sun was just beginning to come up over Detroit, adding to the orange glow coming off of the streetlights and gave off an odd sense of serenity, peace…even hope. It was almost like the city was saying goodbye, giving her a warm hug and telling her it was going to be alright…lord knew she needed to hear it from somebody. She took another long drag off of her cigarette and exhaled, trying to push the crippling pain that had sat in her chest since she’d arrived at the apartment. She thought about Jackie, Bobby, the boys…all of them. Evelyn Mercer…oh god, she couldn’t leave without at least seeing Evelyn. She needed someone to give her the strength to do what she needed to do, someone to hear her story and smile that knowing smile and tell her it was okay, that life happens and sometimes you got to work with what you got.

“Mer…” Mercedes was pulled out of her thoughts as her sister sat down across from her, a big plate of eggs, ham, bacon and toast in front of her and two coffees. She pushed the black coffee towards Mer and stared at her with big sorrowful eyes, and for a moment Mercedes entertained the idea that Hailey was feeling something close to what she was feeling. “I’m so….so sorry. I never meant to drag you back into-”

“No…I’m sorry.” Mercedes sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut, trying to think, trying to gather herself without crying. Hailey was never supposed to see her cry. “I’m your older sister Hail, I’m supposed to protect you…from everything. I’m supposed to make sure these things don’t happen…god I wanted you to have a happy fucking childhood for Christ’s sake…not this. Never this…”

“Mer…” Her voice held a note of grief that Mercedes knew all to well, regret, self disgust…

“I’m taking you home to L.A.” She stated, not looking up from her coffee as she took her first sip. The hot liquid burned the corner of her lip where a fresh cut stood out, stark against he pale features, and she cursed, nearly dropping the mug. “Fuck…”

“Mer you can’t, I can’t fucking live with that woman…please Mer don’t make me live with Ma.”

“I’m taking you to live with grandma.” She stated placidly, taking another tentative sip, avoiding the cut on her mouth. “She’s a good woman and she’ll help you. Lord knows she has the money to take care of you…put you through rehab. I don’t want you going through this kind of withdrawal without-”

“I’m not going to fucking rehab Mer, I’m fine.”

“You’re fine? You’re fucking fine?” Mercedes’ fist slammed angrily onto the unstable table, causing coffee to slosh over the edged of both girls drinks and her sister to jump back noticeably. “I don’t know if you fucking noticed Hailey, but you’re fucking fifteen years old, held up in a fucking crack house fucking men for heroin. You’re a fucking drug whore Hailey. I mean for fucks sake have you ever even been tested? You could have…have AIDS or something, and you’d be just fine huh? Just fine as long as you got that last fucking hit…” A strangled cry rose to Mercedes’ lips and she punched the wall angrily. She waited for a moment before continuing, deep breaths trying to even out the rage that was coursing through her. She turned and regarded her sister calmly but in a voice that left no room for argument, continued. “We’re going to L.A., whether I have to knock your ass out and carry you on the bus. You’re going to go to grandma and tell her everything…and I mean everything Hail. Do you understand me?” Hailey simply nodded, though her eyes were boring holes into Mercedes in a glare she knew all to well. “We’re going to get you tested and into rehab, and you’re going to be clean and sober. And you’re never coming back to this town again.”

“Mer…”

“No Hailey. End of discussion. Finish your breakfast; I have one stop to make before we leave. Then we’ll pick up your shit from wherever it is you’re staying and we’re catching the next bus to L.A.”