The next morning she woke with a start the clanging ring of her alarm was deafening. Who knew where the fuck it was. She smoothed her hands over the bed as if stirring the memory of the night before, the sheets still moist from water, sweat and other various fluids. If it hadn't been for the raw ache in her body she would have thought last night was nothing more than a lucid fantasy. Finally finding the alarm clock underneath her table she remembered how it got there. Her stomach fluttered as she could hear him making short guttural noises deep and hard in her ear. She had thrown out a hand to grip the side of the bed as he banged against her from behind but she instead knocked over her entire nightstand, it's contents scattering across the floor.

"A little dramatic don't you think?" He questioned biting his bottom lip as his arm snaked around to caress the satiny flesh of her neck.

Athina's small apartment was wrecked, a wasteland of strewn books and knickknacks. Water still pooled on the floor from where they had begun and stretched out like a river connecting little puddles around her bed. She desperately hoped it hadn't sunk into the ceiling of her store below. Stacks of books had been knocked over, furniture shifted or flipped over all together. The painting above her bed had fallen off its nail, the headboard hammering against the wall had pulled it loose.

She slipped on a dress threw a couple dry towels over the mess on the floor and went downstairs, wearily. She couldn't bare to look at the destruction of her house any longer. A literal fucking tornado had destroyed the once organized chaos. She wasn't too sure how much more her tiny apartment could endure. And he of course was nowhere to be found to help clean up the mess. Out the window he crept as quietly as he had come... well the first time at least. She huffed with a bright smile at her comment as she thought of him above her. He at least was nice enough to drain the remaining water from the bath, though the majority of it's contents currently soaked into her floorboards.

Opening the store she busied herself with inventory. Hearing the bell ring on the door she looked up to her customer half hoping Kid would be walking through her door. She had thought it was so cruel for him not to be there in the morning, but definitely wasn't surprised. She had grown so accustomed to falling asleep wrapped in his arms only to wake up to the embrace of emptiness.

A man in a blue jumper stood at her counter with a clipboard, and her heart sank. "Can I help you?" She asked sweetly, making her way through the stacks.

"Ma'am we had an order to come clean up. He said there was some kinda leak or something made a whole mess of the place." The cleaner eyed the bookstore looking for the issue, though everything seemed in place.

"What?" She questioned.

"Yeah we received an order this morning from a Mr. Nelson. He said to clean the whole place up."

"Can I see that?" Athina questioned taking the order form from the supervisor. There as plain as day was his signature KRN. The K had always seemed so elusive. Of course his real name couldn't be Kid, right.

"Oh no Mr. Nelson was not going to get off this easy." Handing the clipboard back to the supervisor, she smiled. "I'm sorry, he must be mistaken. I already have a cleaner in mind for the mess. I don't think I'll be needing you"

"You know he's already paid us for our time." He looked at her a little dismayed.

"Oh well let me take your card just in case this one doesn't work out."

_______________________

Sitting on the balcony smoking a cigarette she looked into a her window. Her body exhausted she still couldn't make herself clean up. She had mopped up all the water from the bath as it began to sink between the wooden planks, but as she surveyed the rest of mess she had given up. How in the hell can one man be so destructive. Though last night she hadn't cared where or how they were as long as his lips were on her. This wanton abandon had definitely added fuel to the fire. She had wanted to wait like a silly school girl until she knew the intentions of her own emotions. Rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of uppity undertones, she suddenly thought of his thin fingers raking across her heated skin and she inhaled quickly at the memory... so much for reformation. Over the pasts few weeks too much energy had been pent up between them and it had seemed her apartment had been the casualty of the battle.

"Hey." A familiar voice called from the street below, giving her a sudden jolt.

"Hey." She called looking down wistfully. He stood below as if he had been plucked right from her daydream, a small smile etched on his lips like a gilded Adonis.

She would actually catch him in the act this time before he crawled through her window unannounced. Pulling down the ladder he made his way up quickly, his heels making a slight scuff against the brick as he climbed. He scaled the wall like it was nothing, crawling over the banister silently he joined her on the small balcony. This first time they had actually been in this spot together.

"So that's how you do it." Not a beat out of breath he smiled, his dark hair blowing carelessly around his shoulders as his skin rimmed the widened neckline of his shirt.

"Yeah." He grinned cockily watching her as half of her body hung off the banister as she smoked. A black kimono wrapped loosely around her shoulders. In the dying brightness of the setting sun the fabric became sheer the silhouette of her breast showing through. Her tattered jean shorts were cut high on the leg. Walking over casually he placed his body in between her thighs grinding subconsciously before leaning on the banister she sat on. She wrapped an arm around his thin waist. Her kimono loosely slipped down her shoulder.

"You know the sun isn't down quite yet. And I am graced with your presence. I was beginning to think you were a vampire."

"No." He smiled. "But I do bite like one." His teeth grazed against her neck as he slipped his hand under the fold of the silken kimono.

"So bad." She giggled holding onto him. One small slip and she could go over the railing. "Stop. Stop." She laughed, as he continued to nibble. "If I go, you go." She looked to the ground that was three stories below and held on to his shoulders tightly.

"Well. I guess we better go somewhere a little less dangerous." He smirked picking her up from the railing and carrying her to the window.

"What the hell is all this?" He moaned making his way through the frame. The apartment still lay ransacked as it had this morning when he left. He didn't understand how it could still be in this state. He has sent someone over this morning to clean... unless... "Damn it."

"You sent them away didn't you?" He looked to her the flash of annoyance was very difficult to hide and he wasn't sure he wanted to anyway. Every time he had tried to give her a gift it was rejected. He was sure she would have accepted this, but he was wrong.

"Hey they weren't the ones who made the mess." She started rolling up the sleeves on his shirt. "What are you afraid to get your hands a little dirty?"

"Isn't that exactly what I did last night?" He looked at her his large hazel eyes wild and ravenous as he grinned wickedly. His fingers tugged at the torn belt loops of her faded jeans.

"You plucked me right from the tub Mr. Nelson, I was clean as a whistle."

"I don't know seems like you missed a few spots." Bending down her collar he licked her neck. His tongue smoothly rolling over her delicate caramel skin. Enveloping her earlobe he felt her body as it shuddered against him.

"Oh no you can't get outta this." She pushed him off halfheartedly, handing him a pair of yellow rubber gloves she had stuffed into her back pocket.

"Like I told you mama, I don't mind getting my hands dirty." Giving her back the gloves he briefly lined the inseam of her shorts with his fingers before he walked off to get a closer look at the mess they had made.

Searching through her books that were scattered he began to stack them as they had lain around the floor before they had begun. She watched in awe of him being able to remember where everything had gone. It was her tiny apartment and she couldn't remember. As they picked up the rest of the apartment, Athina hoped their next time would be a little less filled with carnal destruction. Especially if it happened to be in her place.

____________________________________

Annihilation

It is the 'No, let us sit here longer,'
The 'Wait till tomorrow,' the 'Once I knew —'
These trifles, said as I touch your finger,
And the clock strikes two.

The world is intricate, and we are nothing.
It is the complex world of grass,
A twig on the path, a look of loathing,
Feelings that pass —

These are the secret! And I could hate you,
When, as I lean for another kiss,
I see in your eyes that I do not meet you,
And that love is this.

Rock meeting rock can know love better
Than eyes that stare or lips that touch.
All that we know in love is bitter,
And it is not much.

Conrad Potter Aiken