Swan Upon Leda // Jake Kiszka

Chapter Two

Adrenaline. Relief. Turmoil. All of it. The speed of the car as it pulled out onto the empty road. The heavy beat of loud music and the window down.

The way Jake looked at you as you leaned out of the window and screamed until your lungs were sore with it. A veritable fuck you to the job you hated. To the men who had disrespected you. Replaying it over and over in your mind.

How good it had felt to sink your fist into Billy's stupid head. But not only that, to do it with somebody who was willing to defend you for the first time in your life.

Your eyes were streaming as you sat back down, trying to calm your erratic heart and heavy breathing. Noticing the blood on Jake's knuckles as he turned the steering wheel. And being conflicted by how turned on you were.

It did nothing to quell your hyperventilation. Being reminded of how he'd stepped up for you without a thought for his own safety. How he'd thrown the first punch, incensed by the disgusting words being used against you.

You looked over at him. Arm fully extended on the wheel and his jaw tightly set. The breeze from the open window in his long brown hair.

"I haven't fucked every dick in Frankenmuth." You said, your voice a little gravelly from all the screaming.

"I know that." He replied, the hint of a smile poised on his beautiful mouth. "Or else you'd have fucked me by now."

He turned the car onto a narrow dirt track as you headed out of town. You didn't know where he was taking you, but you didn't care. There was nothing more you wanted right there in that moment than to trust him.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the other night at Garrett's. I was drunk. I was bored. I shouldn't have played that dumb game with you, it was cruel to leave you there like that."

He let out a glorious sound. Like a giggle embedded within a moan, like you'd stepped on his toe but he found it funny.

"Nobody's ever gotten me so down like that." He laughed, pulling into a clearing at the end of the track.

You'd never been there before. It was pitch black but you could make out the sky above as the tree's swaying in the cool night wind. Stars were peeking out from behind moonlit clouds.

"There's some blankets in the back. Do you...maybe...want to sit on the roof and wait for the sun to come up?"

The way he asked was so endearing. Leading you to believe that there was a part of him that truly was just a sweet boy. But you knew, deep in your gut, that it wasn't the whole picture.

Not after you'd seen him hard like that. Or fight the way he had.

"Yeah." You replied, finally calm. "That sounds kinda nice actually."

You watched him climb up over the trunk, setting blankets down on the top. Reaching to pull you up and placing a blanket around your shoulders for good measure. Hozier playing softly from the car stereo.

All the things guys did when they were trying to make you fall in love with them. You tried to cast that shadow aside as he started building a joint from the little pouch in his back pocket.

"So, what's the deal with that guy anyway?" He asked, leaning his cell phone torch on his lap as he deftly folded the papers.

"Billy?" You sighed, watching closely as he ran the edge across the tip of his tongue. "The deal is that he's a sack of shit who I never should have dated. I thought he loved me. He just wanted to fuck me, end of story."

He packed the weed into the grinder and started turning it. Emptying the contents into the papers before twisting it shut. He was quick and efficient, lighting it up and blowing on the tip to keep the embers burning as he passed it to you.