Page 5 of Filtration Play
Because Dad refused to stop drinking, so Fin refused to keep him in their life.
Fuck him.
Fuck both of them, honestly.
Because when Mom refused to walk away, she chose her side. She didn’t even have the stones to tell Dad they were still in contact. And sure, maybe they should exert a little more empathy since the woman had to deal with his temper, his abuse, but fuck, the anger scoured over everything else some days.
They twisted the throttle harder, eating up the highway. The skyline flashed by them so fast it formed a blur of colors, and the hum of the engine elevated them higher.
Today didn’t matter because the night was king.
They’d long preferred the night, the seductive energy of it, the quiet, and how it offered solace they couldn’t find for too long.
That hadn’t always been the case. Once upon a time, nights terrified them. They used to lock their bedroom door the moment the sun set because Dad would arrive home.
The scent of cheap booze would fill the house, followed by the cacophony of clanks, smacks, crashes. A symphony that had terrified them.
Because some nights they were spared. Other times, they didn’t get to their room fast enough.
Then they’d end up with the bruises. The cuts. The marks on their memories they couldn’t erase, no matter how hard they tried.
All too fast, the sign for Mussel Rock Park came into view.
They slowed down and veered to the right, taking the turn with ease. The howl of the wind reigned around here, even though they weren’t sailing across the asphalt at top speed anymore. The parking lot was empty apart from one other car. Perfect. No need for onlookers with what Fin wanted to get up to. The weight of Ollie at their back set them aflame. Their pulse formed an insistent thump, thump, thump, and they needed to lose themselves in the sexy man who’d landed in their lap.
Fucking jackpot.
He’d looked just as itchy to escape, and he hadn’t hidden his interest in the slightest.
Besides hot as hell, that was what they searched for in hookups—enthusiastic as fuck. Though most of the time, they didn’t fish in the vanilla pool. But they didn’t need any extreme sorts of kink tonight that would push them toward the clubs. Nah, just a rough and tumble with this hottie to burn through the current running through them.
Their mother’s sad face.
Those fucking bruises.
They might leave their own on partners, but it wasalwaysconsensual. End of.
They pulled to a park, and Ollie slipped off first. They knocked out the kickstand and hopped off after.
“Goddamn,” Ollie swore. His cheeks were reddened from the wind, and a huge boyish grin lit his features. He was a huge guy, with broad shoulders and thick muscles, but definitely young, probably early twenties. “I haven’t gotten to ride in far too long.”
“I’ve got something you can ride.” They waggled their brows.
He rolled his eyes. “Really? You can do better than that.”
“You have higher faith in my sense of humor than I do.” They reached down to adjust their packer. They’d popped on their favorite one tonight, and as the base rubbed against their clit, a shock of pleasure filtered through them. Ollie’s dark eyes tracked the movement, a voraciousness in his gaze that had been there from the start.
“Why Mussel Rock Park?” Ollie asked.
“Eh, used to come out here a lot.” Fin shrugged, not wanting to dive into the nitty-gritty. They’d been driving out here from the second they got their license. Not only was it a short distance from where they grew up, but something about the ragged cliffs and harsher waves spoke to them in a way the calmer, more welcoming beaches didn’t. The sole folks who roamed here were ones willing to brave the terrain.
And they associated with that far too hard.
They started toward the trails, and Ollie kept pace with them easily, his long legs eating up the pavement. Fuck, Fin loved bigger partners, no matter the gender. They found something euphoric in making someone huge feel vulnerable, small, protected.
And Ollie looked like he needed to be taken care of. With a cock up his ass. Repeatedly.
“So, were you just at Tabletop Tavern because of Jules?” Fin asked, needing to cut through the quiet. In the quiet lay memories, and those were shit. “Or do you playboard games?”
