American Animals

"So, Maya—" Nathaniel leaned back against one of the raised wheel gunnels, working the roundness into the top of his back and stretching out his legs, "What's your story?"

She glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. "Why do I have to have a story?"

"Everyone's got a story."

"Not me," she shook her head, accepting the joint from Nathaniel once more as he passed it to her. Instead of raising it, she turned the faintly glowing end toward herself, rolling it between her fingers. A couple long trails of smoke rose from it. She glanced back up at Nathaniel, shrugging slightly. "My story? Born in Nacimiento. Moved to Lompoc when I was thirteen. I work at the Santa Barbara farms just down the roads, sometimes... in the summers. I don't really have a story. I'm just sort of... here."

"Well," Nathaniel gave her a long, slightly searching look, "I don't believe that for a second. Girls like you are never just anything.

Maya glanced at him, "Girls like me?"

"Girls who can land a double aerial and skate it out without a warm-up set." She looked over to find Theo speaking from the floor of the van. The muscles of his biceps stood out as he linked his fingers and tucked them under his head; eyes closed, mouth relaxed.

"Thanks for walking that one back for me, buddy."

Maya laughed. She cast a searching eye over Theo, tracing the blue ink of the tattoos that ran from the center of his chest, down the side of his body over his abdominal muscles of his stomach and the left rise of his hip, disappearing into his jeans. Unlike Nathaniel, who still wore his toweled-off wetsuit around his lower body, Theo had changed into pants in the parking lot. She could see the slightly lightening of the skin where his own wetsuit had been. Obviously he surfed with it around his waist more often than not.

"What does that tattoo mean?"

Theo cracked an eye open, glancing at her to make sure the question was directed at him. Sitting up slightly, he turned his body so that the tattoo was more visible. It was a dragon. The mouth, in an enormous head full of curved teeth, opened just beneath his breasts, the visible spine becoming curling waves as it descended down the crest of the creatures' back. Maya thought she saw a bit of regret enter Theo's eyes, making the normally bright grey-green a shade darker. It was almost like a wince—there and gone.

"What was her name?" She took a guess.

Theo looked up, eyes taking on their regular brightness once more as they widened a fraction of an inch in surprise. Then his mouth twisted in a slightly wry smile.

"Is it that obvious?"

"A bit."

"Kanui," a small shrug lifted his shoulders, "Nate and I were surfing Chigasaki. Redbull qualifiers. She nicknamed me Ryūjin... Japanese water dragon. I had it done a couple of months before we... before things ended."

"Is that what brought you back to America?"

"Nah," Theo shook his head, "Regionals did that. Regionals, and a lack of money. Japan's awesome, but—" he let out a quiet whistle, "expensive."

"So," Maya tried to keep her voice joking and casual, "anyone after Kanui?" Theo, half way through laying back down on the floor of the van, paused and glanced up. His elbows came back, bracing him in a leaning position. He and Maya shared a long glance.

"Any reason in particular behind that question?"

"Just curiosity about how low that tattoo goes."

"And," Nathaniel unfolded his legs as he stood, one hand catching the leather padding underneath the window, "that's my cue to leave."

Maya saw the small muscles between the young man's shoulders squeeze together as he stood, her eyes moving slowly down over the larger muscles where the bottom of his back met the top of his bum. His wetsuit, which had been pulled up to his knees, made the young man's shapely behind obvious beneath the smooth black fabric. He gave Theo a wink as he crouched, stretching out a leg to step over the other man.

Even in the slightly cramped space of the van, Maya could see the effortless, slightly rolling movement of the man's body. On impulse, Maya reached out a bare leg and stroked her toe down the back of Nathaniel's lightly haired calf. He paused, one hand pressed to the ceiling, half way over Theo's outstretched body.

"Was it?" She asked, filling the two words with meaningful, innocent sincerity.

For a moment, she clearly read the confusion in Nathaniel's eyes. She watched it happen—the confusion giving way to a thought, the thought giving way to disbelief, the disbelief giving way before wonder, and the wonder giving way before a question, which finally directed itself at her, following the line of his stare. He looked at her silently for a moment, then down to where Theo was laying below him. The two young men exchanged a glance before both turning, in the same moment, to face Maya.

"How stoned are you?" Nathaniel raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Not very," Maya pulled her foot back from the man's leg, balancing it against the wheel gunnel. It gave both men a very clear view of how the red fabric of her swimsuit hugged the bottom of her bum and the slight indents below her hipbones. She shared her smile between them, "Your weed kind of sucks."

"Well that I can agree with." Nathaniel seated himself on top of the wheel gunnel, leaning forward slightly so that his forearms were rested on the top of his bent knees as he looked at her, "Like Theo said, Japan was expensive."

"I've got a hook-up," Maya offered, and then let her smile move slightly closer to the left side of her mouth, "You'll have to earn it, though."

Nathaniel glanced at Theo one more time. Between them, the two men seemed to come to a mutual decision. Theo's chin made a small, repeated nodding motion.

"Well," Nathaniel turned back to Maya, his grin a wider reflection of hers, "we could use the connection. How can we earn it?"

"Well," Maya echoed the casualness of the man's earlier word, "I'm still feeling a bit tight from surfing. Maybe you could help me work that out?"

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Maya had never felt so relaxed in her life, sprawled out as she was on the floor of the van. It was a combination of her surf, the young men's pleasantly easy company, and the marijuana. She hadn't been lying—it was weaker than what she was used to smoking, but she could still feel the effects of it. The languid movement of time, the slight brightening of the sunlight that came in through the van windows, the slight lowering of her eyelashes over her dark eyes.

"I think I can help you out with that."

Nathaniel pushed himself off his seat on the gunnel, making his way in a slight crouch across the van. Maya sat up a bit, taking a similar position to Theo's. She felt Nathaniel arrange himself behind her. One leg was bent, the other one reaching out against the side of her body, following the length of her own. She let herself rest back, feeling the sun-warmed muscle of Nathaniel's stomach against the back of her shoulders. She let out a small sigh as his fingers began to work into the muscles just above her collarbones.

He worked slowly; his fingers and thumbs working over her shoulders and the top of her arms. When he let the tip of each thumb glide over her neck, from just below the bottom of either earlobe down to where it met her body, Maya felt her breathing change slightly. It deepened, coming from lower in her chest. She could feel her nipples beginning to stiffen, ever so slightly; noticeable only because they touched the fabric of her swimsuit.

Evidently, Nathaniel also noticed from his seat behind her; because the next time he repeated the motion with his thumbs along the sides of her neck, he didn't stop at her shoulders. Instead he stretched out his arms slightly, letting his thumbs glide down the front of her swimsuit and over the front of her nipples. At his feather light touch, they both stiffened considerably. Maya drew a breath through her nose, exhaling it as the back of his thumbs moved back up, his hands wrapping around her shoulders once more.

"Give me a hand?" She heard Nathaniel's voice from over her head, obviously directed to where Theo was laying on the floor of the van, watching the scene in front of him. Maya thought she could make out a slight bulge in the front of the man's jeans that hadn't been there a moment previously.

Sitting up and pushing himself forward, Theo picked up Maya's left foot and drew it into his lap. She wriggled her toes as his hands wrapped around her foot, his thumbs meeting in the middle of her heel. They pressed down as he worked his hands up her foot, coming nearly to the bottom of her toes before moving back down and repeating the motion.

"Yeah," Maya exhaled the word, "You two are certainly on your way to earning that name."

Theo gave her a grin, fanning his thumb over the top of her foot so that the tip of his thumb brushed against her toes. As he moved his hands up her ankle, the motion brought her foot to rest against the crotch of his pants. She didn't imagine it. She could definitely feel the slightly bulge where the man's penis pressed up against the front of his jeans. Slowly, Maya began to massage the man's erection through them with the bottom of her foot.

"Is it getting hot in here, or is that just me?" Maya asked.

"Let me help you with that." Nathaniel's hands moved slowly down her arms as he spoke. Instead of going over her swimsuit, this time, his fingers went underneath it.

Maya kept eye contact with Theo as Nathaniel slowly brought the suit down her body. As the man's palms slid over her ribs, her breasts pulled free of the slightly damp material. It revealed a pair of pert, dark nipples. She felt the swell of pressure against the bottom of her foot increase.

"Take over."

Theo's hands traded place with Nathaniel's as the swimsuit reached her hips. Maya lifted her bum slightly, helping the man bring the material down her legs and over her feet. Instead of tossing it away, he flipped it right-side out and folded it carefully before placing it on top of the wheel well. Maya wasn't sure whether her surge of arousal had to do with the fastidious, thoughtful gesture; or whether it had more to do with Nathaniel's hands, which had begun gently massaging her breasts. Every so often, the side of his thumb reached out to trace a small circle around the side of her nipple.

It occurred to her, quite suddenly, that as Theo turned back from placing the bathing suit by the side of the van, he was faced with her open legs. She could feel the wetness between her legs, and knew that her slightly parted labia must be glistening. A neatly trimmed triangle of hair went from just below the bottom of her stomach, down her pelvis, and wrapped into the crease between her thighs and her vulva. It was slightly darker than the hair on her head; something which, for whatever reason, had caused Maya a fair amount of anxiety when she'd been younger.

If Theo noticed the difference, he didn't care. His eyes travelled slowly up the inside of her bare legs, paused for a moment on her exposed vagina, and then continued upward until he met her eyes. He was completely hard now. Maya played her toes over the head of the man's penis, through his jeans. Theo shook his head, letting out a pent-up breath.

"Well that's incredibly hot."

Maya caught her bottom lip, dragging her teeth back before letting it slip free. Against her chest, she felt a slight pinch as Nathaniel caught her nipples between the ends of his thumbs and the flat side of his pointer fingers. A small gasp escaped her as they pulled free, his hands wrapping fully around her breasts once more.

"Stoke yourself," she directed the word at Theo. Her voice was a bit breathless; a quality that even she could hear, and which matched what she was currently feeling. Lifting her foot from the man's lap, she tucked beside him as the young man moved to his knees.

Maya watched, rivetted, as the button of Theo's jeans slipped free between his thumbs. Pulling down his jeans, he revealed himself for the first time. Maya's excitement rose as the man's penis sprang up from the confines of his pants. It was about six inches, and curved upward ever so slightly. The thick hair of his thighs thinned slightly as it reached his pelvis, small blonde curls standing up against his skin.

Instead of seating himself once more, Theo reached down and wrapped his left hand around the top of his penis. She could make out a glint of precum around the tip of the head as he began to stroke it, slowly and intentionally, while looking down at her from his knees. Something about the position looked both powerful and submissive all at once. Maya felt her stomach knot slightly as a rush of heat went through her body.

Reaching down, she placed a hand between her own legs. Her gaze moved between the man's stroking hand and his eyes as she played two fingers into the wet folds of her labia. As his stroking increased in frequency, so did the movements of Nathaniel's hands against her chest. She could feel the warmth of his breath through her hair, the beating of his heart against the back of her neck. Before she could begin to think, or hesitate, Maya curled two fingers and brought them inside of herself.

The suddenness of the gesture, even with her own hand, took her breath away. Maya rolled her hips slightly as she adjusted herself to the thereness of her fingers; feeling her own familiar tightness, the friction made smooth by wetness, the nerve-shivering touch of her short nails.

A small whimper left her open mouth as Nathaniel's fingers caught her nipples once more. The sharpness of the pleasure, almost approaching pain, caught her off guard. The pace of her self-pleasure increased slightly as Nathaniel rolled her nipple between a finger and thumb. She could feel his own erection, through his wetsuit, pushing upward against the small of her back.

That was what made the decision for her. Pushing herself up, Maya turned over. The suddenness of the movement obviously caught Nathaniel off guard, because he leaned back slightly. Maya brought both of her hands sliding along the carpeting on either side of the man's thighs. Her bum rose in the air as she knelt. Slowly, she brought her mouth down to the bulge in the black fabric which she now found in front of her.

As her lips touched his wetsuit, Nathaniel sat back with a low moan. One arm stretched behind him, open hand balancing him against the floor of the van, while the other one went into her hair. It wasn't a grabbing motion; there was no force behind the touch. He only gathered her hair in his fingers, holding it back from her face as she worked her mouth along the length of the man's penis. In the fabric, she could still taste a lingering saltiness from the water. As she moved along his shaft, sucking gently, a bit of water came out of the fabric and into her mouth. There was a bit of a near-burn to the taste of the water, but Maya didn't care. It was the taste of the ocean.

She gasped lightly, thankfully not inhaling any of the water, as Theo's hands took a hold of her from behind. His palms pressed against the cheeks of her bum, his thumbs following the indented lines at the top of her thighs, his fingers curling down to hold her in place. Her urgency increased slightly as she felt the man's hot breath between her legs.

When his tongue touched her for the first time, it was almost enough to make Maya's folded legs give out. He started at the bottom of her pussy, his tongue parting her labia as it traced a slow path upward through the furrow of her. Reaching up, Maya took hold of the wetsuit around Nathalie's waist, curling her fingers beneath it. He seemed to understand, sitting up as she had done earlier so that she could pull the material down his body. It wasn't done nearly as easily as hers had been, but Maya didn't care. Heat burned through her body as Theo continued the slow administrations of his tongue from behind her.

As the wetsuit peeled away, Nathaniel's penis appeared. He had obviously shaved recently, because even though his upper body and thighs were covered in coarse, dark hair, the skin of his pelvis and around the shaft of his penis showed only small bristles. Leaning down, Maya took the man eagerly in her mouth. She felt the pliable softness of the man's head, and then the rigidness of the shaft below it. Rolling her tongue twice around the man's head, she closed her lips and began to bob gently. He exhaled hard, the sound matching her earlier breathlessness.

His skin had the same taste as his suit, but fainter. The saltiness of the ocean replaced, or accented, but the lighter saltiness of his precum. He was a bit shorter than Theo, but nearly as wide as both of her thumbs placed side-by-side. Maya felt the head of the man's penis come to rest against the back of her mouth, lifting her tongue and stroking it up the bottom of his shaft as she rose for air. As she did, Nathaniel's grip tightened slightly in her hair. She didn't think it was a conscious decision.

"Holy fuck," he breathed above her.

Those two words, pronounced in his lusty and slightly breathless voice, made Maya feel nearly feral. Suddenly and fiercely powerful. There was a slight pulsing coming from between her legs, slightly higher than where Theo's tongue was working inside of her. She felt a tremble move through her legs and into the bottom of her feet, nearly enough to make her toes curl. She needed something more—something inside of her. She needed to be fucked, well and immediately. Just as she was opening her mouth to verbalize this, Nathaniel's cock between her parted lips, she felt Theo's tongue touch the source of the pulsing.

Whether it was the faint inhale of breath or the bending of her back that made her bum rise slightly higher in the air, Maya didn't know, but obviously Theo knew he had done something right. His tongue traced a slow circle, moving back down between the lips of her pussy and then back up. Each time the man's tongue brushed over her clit, he exhaled a soft, hot breath. The sensation of it made Maya want to shove herself against the man's face. Instead, she settled for sucking Nathaniel's cock.

Taking him deep, she very nearly managed to touch her nose against the tiny bristles that covered the man's pelvis. She choked slightly as the man's penis touched the opening of her throat, feeling the spasm of it go through her stomach and chest. Easing off slightly, she repeated the motion. This time, she let out a moan as Theo's tongue stroked her clit once more. She knew that Nathaniel would feel the sound reverberated through the length of his shaft—knowledge with a satisfying confirmation as the man's cock stiffened slightly further and his hips rose an inch off his folded legs.

Nathaniel's breathing, above her, had become something resembling a pant. Maya felt her natural submission begin to creep in as the man's hand went slightly deeper in her hair, beginning to take a bit more control of the movement of her head. She moaned once more, and was rewarded when the motion of Nathaniel's arm increased. She felt herself guided down his shaft until her nose did touch his slightly prickly skin, and then allowed to rise for air once more.

The man's touch was perfect. Strong and comfortably controlled; more suggestive than forceful.

It was with a bit of surprise, to Maya, when she realized that she was on the edge of an orgasm. She could feel the pressure of it gathering below her stomach. Each rolling movement of Theo's tongue against her pussy, the warmth of each long exhale, each touch of its length against her clit, each time the fingers at the back of her head tensed slightly as she reached the bottom of Nathaniel's cock; each of these worked together to bring her closer to the edge. The trembling of her muscles, which had at first been so faint as to be nearly unnoticeable, became evident. She felt the orgasm shaking inside of her, begging to be released.