Unbound

Chapter Two

Here's Chapter 2 of Unbound, picking up the narrative:

Chapter 2 - Lila's POV

My cheeks actually ached from how wide I was smiling as I waved goodbye to Ricky that first day. Who knew spending hours being decisively crushed at Skylanders could be so freaking fun?

"You were really great with him," Mr. Morrison—Jack, he'd insisted I call him—said as he walked me to the door. There was a bemused quirk to his full lips, like he still couldn't quite believe what he'd witnessed.

I shrugged, fighting a giddy little thrill at his praise. "Guess I'm just a kid whisperer. The secret is not treating them like pesky aliens."

Jack chuckled, running a hand through his raven waves. Even absently mussed, the dark locks seemed to beg for fingers to sink into them. I had to firmly squash that stray thought before it ran completely off the rails.

Clearing my throat, I gestured back towards the living room Den of Destruction™. "I can try getting Ricky to clean up tomorrow after school if you want? Might als—"

"Lila." The gentle murmur of my name on his lips stopped me mid-ramble. My heart kicked up as I slowly met that piercing hazel gaze, barely ascending eye-level with his broad chest.

"You've already done more today than I could've hoped for. Why don't we just...leave it for now?" There was an undeniable weariness in his words. But the crooked half-smile he wore hinted at a lightness, a sense of peace I couldn't recall him having even hours before.

I found myself caught in the tractor beam of his gratitude, unable to look away. The man's sculpted handsomeness wasn't anything I hadn't seen plenty of around the Greek row houses. But there was an unexpected warmth and gentleness to Jack that drew me in like a moth to lamp's incandescent glow.

Part of me knew I should just nod politely and make my exit before things got...complicated. But the rest felt an alien tug to bask further in his approving regard, so different from the snap-judgments I usually endured.

"I, uh...I had fun too," I finally managed, mentally kicking myself for such lameassery. But Jack's smile only widened, crinkling laugh lines around the corners of his soulful eyes.

"Well good. I look forward to you working your magic with the tornado twins again tomorrow then."

The husky timbre in his voice fired a jolt of yearning straight through my core. Between that rumbling baritone and the sheer masculine beauty of his face, it was a miracle my knees didn't buckle right there.

Mustering what poise I had left, I somehow responded with a sassy wink. "You know where to find me, slugger."

The shocked parting of his full lips and subtle widening of those expressive green eyes was a picture I knew I'd never forget. I turned and strode back towards my car, wobbling only slightly in the knees and hoping my baggy shorts hid any ill-timed...thoughts.

Who was I kidding? This gig was gonna be way more dangerous than any judgy PTA mom. I was playing with fire. And at this rate, I'd be lucky to emerge unscathed.

Jack's POV

Lila's murmured goodbye was nearly drowned out by the thundering bass of my pulse in my ears. I just managed to return her cheery wave, skin still tingling from the blatant spark of...connection between us.

Don't even go there, Morrison. The mantra played on a loop as I shoved the door closed, leaning back against it for support. Like a cosmic joke, the discarded ruins of my marriage only highlighted how perilously close I'd come to losing my grip on sanity.

She was just a kid. Some unremarkable, ridiculously young quasi-flirtation didn't mean a thing. And yet, even as I scolded myself, the echo of Lila's teasing lilt—"You know where to find me, slugger"—kept rebounding through my skull with maddening resonance.

My chest constricted, mouth flooding with the phantom of her sugary floral scent. God, what was wrong with me? Why was I feeling so utterly...unraveled after mere minutes in her presence?

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the familiar sting of loneliness piercing my core to ground me. That bone-deep ache was all I'd allowed myself for months, a deserved punishment for my failures as a husband. Lila's soft warmth, however enticing, wasn't worth risking my self-inflicted exile.

A sudden clattering down the hallway reminded me of the real challenge ahead. "Ricky!" I steeled myself, heading towards the renewed chaos.

Lila was just a temporary fix in an endless sea of chaos. I'd been drowning too long to let one kind-hearted siren lull me into dangerous waters. No matter how tempting her sandy shores seemed.

***

Chapter 2 - Lila.

I burst through the dorm room door, cheeks flushed and breath still a little ragged. Becca glanced up from her laptop, eyeing me critically.

"s**t, you look wrecked. Rough day pulling babysitting duty?"

I huffed out a laugh, shaking my head. "Not even close. The kids were actually pretty cool once I leveled with them."

Becca snorted. "Oh yeah? And just how exactly does one 'level' with tiny goblins who subsist on tantrums and shitting themselves?"

"By treating them like people instead of alien life forms?" I shot her a pointed look as I dropped my bag. "Crazy concept, I know."

"Whatever you say, Supernanny." Becca waved a bright neon flyer in my face. "We're hitting up this new club downtown tonight. Free vodka pitchers for us broke bitches before 11."

I groaned, flopping back on my bed. After my encounter with Jack, the last thing I wanted was to be surrounded by messy drunks and pounding bass lines all night. Becca could be annoyingly relentless when she got her mind set on something though.

"Come on, it's Thursday! You know we've got Albrecht's sadistic math circus tomorrow bright and early."

Becca rolled her eyes so hard I worried they might detach. "Uh yeah? And clubs just shut down after last call on weekends now?"

She made a show of looking scandalized, voice pitching up into an exaggerated valley girl whine. "Ohmigod, it's not even Friday! Like, how am I supposed to get buck wild wasted and find my future child-bride if we don't go to the most raging party ever??"

I couldn't help but laugh at her melodramatic eyeroll game as she flailed around the tiny dorm. "Okay, okay! You've made your point, spaz."

Becca beamed in triumph, wiggling her pierced brows. "Damn straight I did. So put on your sluttiest dress and get pornstar-levels of ratchet-ready girl, 'cause tonight we're gonna be a fuckin' problem."

A couple hours - and a truly ill-advised number of vodka Gatorade chugs - later, I was pouring myself into a skin-tight burgundy dress that clung indecently to every curve. The plunging halter neckline dipped provocatively between my breasts while the skimpy hem barely grazed my upper thighs.

Stepping in front of the муггу mirror, I gave a slow spin to admire the stretchy material clinging smoothly to the flare of my hips and ass. Becca looked up from furiously re-lining her cat-eyes and let out a low whistle.

"Daaamn, if I didn't exclusively love p***y I'd be hitting that s**t so hard right now."

I laughed, giving my reflection a saucy wink as I smoothed the deep vee between my breasts. The naughty thrill of showing so much skin still gave me an illicit charge, despite my best attempts at playing it off as mature confidence.

"Down girl," I teased in my biggest 'butter wouldn't melt' voice before we headed out into the balmy Chicago night.

The line to get into Vista Night Club stretched down the block with a throbbing mass of students. Leave it to Becca's uncanny knack for sniffing out any and every rager within a 5-mile radius.

I nervously smoothed my palms over the clingy material of my dress as we approached the beefy bouncer guarding the thick ropes. Dude looked about as amused by the sea of drunken coeds as a ragebeast guarding the ninth circle of Hell.

To my surprise though, after a quick glance up and down that made me feel muggier than I'd like to admit, he unclipped the velvet rope ushering us inside with a curt, "Welcome to Vista."

The deep, throaty bass pounding from within vibrated through my ribcage as we finally stepped through the doors. Instantly, a wall of heat, smoke and pulsating colored light hit me square in the face.

"This place is insane!" I shouted over the thunderous music, grinning back at Becca's exhilarated whoop.

"Hell yeah it is! Let's go grab drinks, b***h!" Becca grabbed my hand, towing me deeper into the subterranean depths of the club.

We fought through the churning mass of gyrating bodies, finally emerging at the main bar. Dangerously dense clouds of fog swirled around the neon overhangs, making it feel like we'd stumbled into some post-apocalyptic acid nightmare.

"What'll it be, hotties?" The bartender, all chiseled pecs and blinding veneers, had to lean in to make himself heard over the bone-rattling bass line.

"Two pitchers of your cheapest, most toxic swill!" Becca shouted back, putting on an exaggerated bedroom voice as she dragged her eyes up and down his glistening eight-pack.

The bartender flashed a wink before turning to pull our beverages. Becca made a show of fanning herself with her hand as she checked out his muscled backside.

"Easy there, thirsty," I teased, giving her a light shove.

"What? Like you weren't scoping that Adonis-looking mother—"

The bartender slammed our pitchers down, sloshing some Aluminum Piss® onto the sticky bar top. "There ya go, ladies! The first round's on Vista, but after that the piss gets pretty expensive."

"Ooh, I do love a little cheap beer..." Becca purred, sticking her tongue between her teeth as she blatantly ogled his bulging biceps. He laughed, sauntering off to more pressing beverage needs.

I rolled my eyes, shoving one of the pitchers into Becca's hands before gripping my own. "Down girl. Let's at least attempt to keep things classy for the first...hour?"

"You're such a buzzkill, Lil!" She stuck out her tongue but looped her free arm around my shoulders as we wove back towards the chaotic mass.

The air was scorching and drenched in a heady cocktail of sweat, weed smoke and obscenely overpriced alcohol fumes. My dress already clung damply to my lower back as we finally pushed through to the beating heart of the dance floor.

"WHOOOO!" Becca flung her head back, chugging down a sloppy amount of crisp lager that immediately dribbled down her chin. I couldn't help but laugh at her usual hot mess antics.

Grinning, I took a more measured sip, feeling the bracing cold slide down my throat as I let the thrumming bass slowly invade my senses. As the first fuzzy tingles of alcohol hit my brain, everything seemed to kick into a higher gear.

The churning storm of bodies twisting and undulating before me mesmerized like some ancient Bacchanalian ritual. I watched enraptured as guys and girls merged in one swaying orgy of sweat-slicked skin and thrashing ecstasy.

Becca nudged me insistently with her elbow, nodding towards the churning mass in a clear invitation. I grinned and knocked back another burning swig of beer, liquid courage sizzling through my veins.

Screw it - I was young, buzzed and surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous people moving their bodies like s*x possessed. Why the hell shouldn't I get a little unbound tonight?

Pitching my cup aside with a wild whoop, I grabbed Becca's hand and let myself get subsumed into the swaying throng. The heavy bass vibrated through the very soles of my feet as I swiveled my hips, hair whipping around me.

Disembodied hands found my waist, pulling me back against a solid expanse of chiseled muscle. I went willingly, letting the driving beat guide my motions as I rolled my ass shamelessly against the stranger's pelvis.

Glancing over my shoulder, I found myself locking eyes with a pair of glittering whiskey browns. The guy's face was ruggedly cut from stone, framed by expertly mussed brunette waves that brushed artfully across his forehead.

"Hey there," he rumbled with a devastatingly crooked grin. His broad hands stroked blatantly along the flare of my hips.

I bit my lip, purposefully arching back to drag my ass along the growing bulge behind his zipper. The one night stand game was on.

"Hey yourself," I purred, craning my head so my nose brushed against his chiseled jawline.

His fingers dug into the soft flesh of my outer thighs as his hips rolled into me with undulating precision. Becca shot me a lascivious wink before melting back into the thrashing crush of bodies.

All thoughts of babysitting gigs and brooding older mаn's gentle smiles faded under the steady pulse of throbbing bass. Tonight was just about losing myself completely between the thunder of tribal drums and searing caresses.

Turning in the stranger's arms, I shamelessly looped mine around his thick neck as our swaying lower bodies locked into an almost obscene grind. He caught my smirk in a searing kiss, big hands cupping my ass to grind our clothed centers together with delicious friction.

Everything seemed to fade into a molten haze of bass vibrating through bone and sinew. The deep, punishing pulse between my legs matched the thrumming beat as I rolled my hips in time. Moaning into the stranger's hot mouth, I arched shamelessly to ride the delicious friction of his steel length against my aching center.

In that endless midnight bacchanal, any thoughts of tiny terrors and kind hazel gazes receded entirely. For those swirling, drunken hours, I chose to be boundlessly, selfishly unbound.

***