“So. How is it?” he asked as I took my first bite of chicken. We’d barbequed it on a tiny charcoal grill that Riddick found around the back of the shack.
He’d shown me how to season it with salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder, and honestly, it was way better than any frozen chicken dinner I’d ever had.
I groaned in appreciation as the chicken melted in my mouth.
“Fuck,that’s good.”
Riddick watched me eat with his usual enigmatic expression, his gaze never straying from my face as I dug into my meal.
“You sure you don’t want any?” I asked. “You must be starving. You haven’t eaten all day.”
“I told you. I have food at home. You work hard for your money. I don’t need to eat all your groceries. Especially when you clearly need it more than I do.”
I laughed. “You’re going to make me fat.”
“No. I’m going to make you strong, and hopefully, that’ll be enough to save you.”
I sighed, pushing my now empty plate away from me.
“You’re always such a downer.”
He was staring at the corner of my mouth with a small frown on his face.
“You have barbeque sauce right here,” he said, tapping his finger against his lip.
I poked my tongue out of my mouth in an effort to lick it up, and his eyes followed the motion like a hawk.
My mouth flooded with the smokey-sweet taste of BBQ, and I drew my tongue back in.
“There. Did I get it?” I asked, and before I knew what was happening, he was reaching across the table and cupping the side of my cheek. He brushed his calloused thumb over my lips, wiping the sauce away and causing my breath to hitch in my chest.
Okay. That was definitely a flirt…
Dudes didn’t wipe sauce off other dudes’ mouths unless they were into said dude… did they?
“Riddick…” I murmured, my gaze darting back and forth between his eyes, trying my hardestto see if he was giving meanyindication at all that these intense feelings I seemed to be developing for him weren’t one-sided.
He pulled back, and for a split second, I thought he was going to suck the barbeque sauce off his thumb, but he didn’t.
He wiped it off on a paper towel and stood up, grabbing my empty plate and striding over to the sink to rinse it.
“I’ve got to head out,” he said gruffly.
“Wait, can we talk about?—”
“Goodnight, Finn,” he barked abruptly. The softness in his tone was gone, and he was hard and cold again as he made his way to the front door.
“Riddick—”
“I’ll see you in the morning. Same rules apply.”
Then, the door shut, and he was gone.
Same rules apply.
This was absolutely fucked up. Even though Riddick didn’t seem interested in confirming that I wasn’t supposed to be experiencing any sort of release, Iknewthat’s what he meant.
He’d punished me the first day when I told him I’d touched myself a little. Then, today seemed to be a reward. He stretched me out, surfed with me, and kept me company while I made dinner.
