Dare To Chill

Mumbling something incoherent against the ticklish spot behind your ear, Eddie looks up at you greedily when you arch backwards with a giggle, elbows propping yourself up on his dash with a breathless ‘huh?’

His lips shine like glacé cherries demanding to be nibbled, and you have to hold in the overwhelming urge to bite them, forcing your eyes back up to meet his gaze.

“I said hiding in a dark corner of the parking lot shouldn’t be so hot at our age”

A slow smile stretches the corners of your mouth at his words and you sit back up, skirt of your uniform bunching higher near your waist as you scoot closer to his body again.

“Hmm,” your head tilts “and yet…”

“And yet…”

Eddie agrees, finger tip tracing its way down your cheek until he has your chin cradled in the palm of his hand, thumb rubbing gently over your bottom lip. His eyes are transfixed as your tongue darts out to swipe over his calloused skin, Eddie’s own mouth falling open at the warm, wet sensation.

His eyes are a glassy black as he swallows thickly, pupils blown in lustful adoration as he glances up. Eddie’s arms shoot forward and you hear yourself gasp when his hands grip your hips, tugging you into his lap so tightly you’re left in absolutely no doubt as to exactly how hot he finds the whole situation.

“I could lose my job for this you know…” your words are murmured breathlessly as you fall forward against his mouth.

“For what?” Eddie replies softly, seemingly distracted as he runs a palm over your chest and squeezes through your uniform with an appreciative hum.

“…fornicating with the clientele on company time”

“Fornicating, huh?” He huffs out a little laugh that lands at your throat before running his tongue up the column of your neck. You keen forward and whine into his hair, arms wrapping snugly around his shoulders as Eddie starts to suckle your skin.

“Well w-what would you c-call it?”

“Just spending some quality time with my…”

Woah…

Eddie looks at you, big doe eyes full of adoration, soft smile pulling at his mouth.

“…my girl? Do you, I mean - can I call you that now?”

An entirely different kind of heat engulfs you, a kind that fills every empty space within your body with a warmth and fullness you’ve missed more than you ever realised.

“Please don’t ever stop calling me that” you whisper, thumbs tracing his dimples.

He pulls you close and promises he won’t, repeating it between the hungry kisses and hungrier grinding of his hips up into yours. Murmurs it into your ear while you balance on a knife edge of building pressure, toppling you into the heady abyss of white hot pleasure.

•••

Eddie reluctantly persuades you to return to the diner, as much as he loves having your body draped across him on the front seat. It’s a special form of torture that you two still haven’t been able to share the one thing you’re both desperate for.

Not that he’s not been enjoying the frantic make out sessions and dry humping like a teenager, or the spontaneous blow job you treated him to on your knees in the footwell, but for days on end he’s thought of nothing else but having you laid out bare beneath him, being so deep inside you that his mind goes blank - and quite frankly, it’s becoming a dangerous distraction.

Sliding his leather clad arm around your shoulders, Eddie kicks the door of his van closed behind him and accompanies you across the parking lot.

Your fingers are tucked into the belt loop of his black jeans, a heady laugh jostling your body into his at some ridiculous joke he’s just told you. He’s not even sure if he got the punchline right, but you don’t seem to care anyway, and somehow that makes it even funnier.

The joyful sound is cut short when you come to an abrupt stop next to him, Eddie stumbling at the unexpected recoil and sudden absence of your body.

“Woah, where’d you…go?”

Eddie spins to his left as he hears you take a sharp intake of breath, and watches you run the few steps over to the back of your car.

“Sugar? What’s wrong?”

He jogs over and catches the tail end of a string of curse words falling from your mouth while you crouch on the gravel. Glancing over your shoulder, he immediately sees why.

“Shit…”

The light may be dim at this time of day, but there’s no mistaking the extremely flat rear tire - or the ugly, jagged slash to the rubber that caused it: a purposeful open wound intended to be seen.

•••

Feeling his warm breath rush across the shell of your ear, you tuck yourself impossibly closer in his embrace. Eddie has expertly eased one hand between the open buttons of your uniform, the other making it’s way under the hem. You whimper at the tantalising stroke of calloused fingertips grazing the inside of your thigh. Your lips press into the dip of his throat, whole body shuddering when he groans at the sensation.

You are barely out of view, but the heavy cloak of lust has you firmly in its grip and each day that passes sees you becoming more reckless.

Eddie runs a thumb across your underwear in a way that has you mewling loudly between bites to the skin of his neck. He hisses at a particularly possessive nip.

Your hands stroke down his chest, the skin gloriously exposed as his shirt hangs open. You pause on his ribcage, enjoying the feel of his laboured breathing under your palms. He curses against your lips when you tease a fingertip over the outline of his desperate bulge.

“Fuck.” Eddie hisses “You really are trying to kill me, huh?”

You pop the button of his jeans and ease your fingers into the waistband of his boxers, mouth filling with saliva at the thought of what comes next - but the unwelcome slam of a door being thrown open round the corner has you breaking apart like teenagers caught in a tryst.

Clyde calls your name from inside the building, not seeing you both hidden behind the dumpsters. You stare at each other, chests heaving, lips swollen and pink.

Clyde yells your name a second time.

“I’m coming!”

“Well, one of us should…” Eddie huffs a frustrated laugh through his nose, head dropping back to the wooden fence panel he’s leaning against.

You slap his shoulder playfully, warmth blossoming under your ribcage at the way his eyes crinkle, face erupting into a big, toothy grin. Eddie catches you by the wrist, pressing his lips to your open palm and planting feathery kisses up the inside of your forearm.

Giggling, you squirm playfully in his grasp.

“Eddie, I really have to go…” your whispered protest is half hearted, fighting the urge to melt back into him as his mouth continues to travel up your arm, towards your neck.

As you take a step backwards, he whines petulantly, hooking fingers into the pockets of your uniform to keep you close.

“Got me out here all riled up like some horny teenager, y’know that?” Eddie growls against your jaw.

Stealing kisses on your break and being felt up outside work with no chance to follow up was driving you both insane. Ignoring the throbbing between your thighs was becoming a full time job.

“Well,” you purr “it sure is a good thing that I’ve got a free weekend coming up”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, you…uh, wanna come over? I’ll cook you dinner and everything. You might even get dessert…”

His eyes go black and Eddie audibly groans at the idea.

You tug him forward by the collar to plant a lingering kiss full of promise to his mouth. There’s another call of your name from inside that has you making to move away. He moans his protestation at your departure.

“See you inside, Rockstar” you throw over your shoulder with a wink.

•••

“Listen, Eddie, if you want me to cut your hair you’re gonna have to sit still long enough for me to do it.” Robin hops impatiently from one foot to another “And yes, I know this coming from me is all levels of hypocritical but seriously, if you keep moving you’re gonna lose an eyebrow. Or an ear. Or worse.”

“Or worse?” He huffs and rolls his eyes, shifting again on the stool placed in the centre of Steve’s kitchen, channelling his nervous energy into bouncing his knee up and down instead.

“Yeah man,” Steve chimes in, can of Pringles attached to his hand “what’s the deal?”

“Nothing, it’s not a big deal, I just want to look a little more…presentable this weekend”

Robin pauses with scissors mid air and drops the tendril of hair that was about to meet its demise.

“Presentable?” Steve quirks a brow in question “The other week, you got burger sauce in your hair and when I pointed it out you told me you were ‘saving it for later’”

“Yeah, since when have you cared about your appearance?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie shrugs and ignores the narrowing of Robin’s eyes “since it matters…”

Glancing over the top of Eddie’s head, Robin meets Steve’s gaze with a knowing look.

•••

You wake up feeling on edge.

The dreams are back.

The ones where you’re stuck in a forest in the dead of night, desperate to get out. Where you feel like your legs are stuck in molasses, when all you want them to do is run. The ones where panic rises like bile from your stomach, a sinister laugh echoes through the trees and the ground shakes with heavy footsteps gaining on you from behind.

A long, hot shower and two bowls of your favourite sugary cereal help take the edge off your lingering unease, but you still triple check the locks before leaving. Outside, your eyes land on the new tire at the rear of your car and you’re reminded of the sickening sight of gaping, slashed rubber.

That unnerving feeling of being watched creeps up on you again, cold shiver running down your spine. Suddenly you have the urge to be anywhere else but your apartment block where every wall feels like it has eyes trained right at you. You’ll call Lisa later, see if you can crash at her place until tomorrow night.

Your mind still plays tricks on you sometimes. You are your own worst enemy in that regard.

Everything will feel better when Eddie comes home with you, everything always feels better when you’re with him. He makes you feel safe, and seen, and wanted…and you have absolutely no plans to let him out of your sight for the entire weekend.

•••

Admiring Robin’s handiwork in his rearview mirror, Eddie ruffles his hair and, with an appreciative nod, reaches over to grab the small bunch of wildflowers off the passenger seat.

Eddie spots you through the diner window, wiping down counters and refilling the condiments, heading in and out of the kitchen in a well practiced routine. He enters quietly and sneaks up behind you, throwing a mischievous wink at Old Ken when he passes the booth.

Tip-toeing forward and holding his breath, Eddie leans round your shoulders to present his gift. Before he has the chance to whisper ‘guess who?’ in your ear, he feels your whole body tense. In a split second, you swivel to the right, elbow landing a blow to his ribs that he only half manages to avoid.

Eddie’s yelp of pain mixes with your shriek of surprise.

“Oh my god! Eddie!” You reach for him immediately “Are you okay?!”

He groans while nodding, taking a deep breath as he straightens. You tug him by the elbow to sit on a stool and press an apologetic kiss to his cheek.

“I’m so sorry”

Eddie holds up the slightly battered flowers with a grimace “These are for you…”

You stroke a thumb across his cheek and take the offering gratefully, moving quickly to find an empty jug of water to place them in.

Something isn’t quite right though, Eddie notices, you keep glancing over his head towards the door every time the bell jingles. He spins, checking the diner in case someone has pissed you off, but sees the same few regulars as always.

His hands reach for you as you approach, and you let yourself be tugged into the spot between his knees, a thin smile plastered to your face that isn’t fooling him. Eddie curls a finger under your chin, tightening his arm around your waist so he can lay a gentle kiss to your lips.

He lets himself linger, feeling some of the tension in your muscles dissolve under his affection.

“You okay? Seem a little jumpy”

“I’m fine, just tired. Not sleeping so well right now…”

Your half-lie is almost convincing. Eddie pauses and sees the subtle twitch of your eyebrow, the pulse of your jaw. He can tell there’s more behind it, but senses not to push you. Instead, he defaults to trying to lighten the mood.

“Y’know,” his voice drops “I’ve heard there’s a really good remedy for helping people sleep that might help you”

There’s a glint in his eyes before he lowers his lips to leave a trail of chaste kisses to your neck. Leaning back, he catches the smile tugging the edges of your mouth.

“What d’ya say Sugar?” He whispers, bringing your knuckles to his lips “Gonna let Dr Munson here help you relax? He’ll treat you real good if you come with him to the restrooms…make you feel all better?”

You roll your eyes and snort on a small laugh, shoving him on the shoulder as you step away towards the side door.

“You sound like such a dork when you talk about yourself in the third person”

Eddie follows, wrapping his arms around your shoulders from behind, warm breath tickling the skin below your earlobe as he whines “But I thought you said dorkiness was your kryptonite?”

Twisting in his grip, you bite back a giggle at the way his bottom lip is pouting. He gives you his best puppy dog eyes and bestows an avalanche of kisses to your face out of view from the rest of the diner.

“Okay, okay!” You acquiesce, grabbing his face with both hands and kissing him square on the mouth “Just give me five minutes - I have to empty the garbage cans”

“Can’t Clyde do it?” He grumbles

“Would you want to see the chef who’s about to cook your food putting garbage in the dumpster?”

“Excellent point”

With a glance over his shoulder, you run your fingers along the inside of the waistband on his jeans. Hearing the air leave his body with anticipation, you bite your lip and move to nudge the door open with your hip.

“You’re definitely still coming over tomorrow right?”

“Fuck yeah I am. Wild horses couldn’t keep me away, Sugar.”

Eddie pulls you back into another loaded kiss before you step outside, like he needs to give you a reason to come back. It’s all heat and desperation, and he groans as you nip his bottom lip when you finally break apart.

•••

After trudging back across the parking lot for the third time, you hurl the last garbage bag into the large dumpster and take a second to enjoy the stillness outside. Above you, it’s the clearest night you can remember for a while - stars glinting like jewels from where they hang above in a cloudless sky. It’s peaceful out here, you’re soothed by the quiet of the moment. Coupled with lingering scent of Eddie’s cologne on your skin, it’s the most at ease you’ve felt for days. Closing your eyes, you take in a lungful of the cool air and stand alone for a moment, letting the calmness envelop your body.

There’s a crunch of gravel somewhere behind you, and the air shifts. Your eyes fly open and even though you’re facing the other way, you immediately know it’s not the sound of Eddie’s heavy boots. Your stomach drops to the floor with a chilling realisation.

Fear prickles up your spine, frozen to the spot as his predatory gaze burns into the back of your head, hair standing on end as your blood runs cold. A blast of unwelcome breath hits the back of your neck before you have any chance to get away.

“Well, well, well…” He spits “…looks like the trash is taking itself out.”

•••

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