Theirs to Ransom

by Stasia Black

  “I’m fine,” Sophia said, a bitter edge to her voice as she spun away from Jagger and stomped toward the door.

  Mario glared at Jagger and Jagger glared back. He almost hoped the big man would pick a fight. He felt like punching something. And maybe like he deserved to get his own ass kicked.

  As soon as Sophia disappeared inside the warehouse he turned away from Leo and Mario and walked away into the night, hands on his head.

  Shit, take a breather, Kincaid.

  It was better that she knew. She’d be done with him. They’d end this farce of a marriage. Maybe he’d see her back to her dad safely and then he could forget any of this bullshit had ever happened.

  He ran a hand roughly down his face and then squeezed his eyes shut. He was too old for this shit anyway.

  The warehouse door slammed as Leo and Mario followed Sophia back inside. Ten minutes later, Jagger fortified himself with a deep breath and followed them.

  Everyone was settling in for the night so he grabbed a sleeping pallet that had been set out for the visitors and took it to the outer edges of the circle near the fire. It cooled down dramatically at night but the air was still plenty stifling to Jagger. He was good with being on the outskirts. Lone wolf suited him just fucking fine.

  And if his conscience was so bothered, how come he could fall asleep so quickly, huh? Because within one breath and the next after laying down and closing his eyes, he was out.

  Jaggy, Jaggy, come see! Pretty kitty! Pretty kitty!

  Jagger groaned. Not now, Marilee.

  Jaggy, pretty kitty! Come see!

  But once Marilee got something in her head, there was no getting it out and she just kept jerking at his arm sleeve. “Jaggy. Jaggy, Come!

  He blinked his eyes open. But instead of his little sister with her big, sunny smile and bright blue eyes, it was a corpse. Maggots wriggled out of her eye sockets and her mouth was opened on a lipless scream.

  Jagger shot up to a sitting position, almost banging heads with Sophia. “What the—?”

  But Sophia clamped her hand over his mouth before he could say anything else. He glared at her and yanked away from her hand, looking around them. It was the middle of the night, at least he assumed so since there were no windows in the warehouse. But everyone else was still sleeping and the fire had died down.

  There was just barely enough light to see by. Sophia was frowning down at him, like she was about to ask if he was okay. But then she notched her chin higher.

  “You wanted to sell me? Fine. Then take me to Fort Worth and sell me to Arnold Travis.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  SOPHIA

  3 Hours Earlier

  Sophia stomped back inside after Leo and Mario came and interrupted her infuriating conversation with Jagger.

  It had all been a lie!

  He’d tricked her, been planning to use her, and of course she’d fallen hook line and sinker for it. She was everything Finn had ever accused her of being—innocent and naïve to the point of it being a disability.

  She’d almost gotten them killed! And for what? So she could walk into her own kidnapping? Jagger had been planning to extort her father for money while they were in the middle of a war.

  She couldn’t even handle thinking about how humiliating that would’ve been. What if they’d actually made it to her father and one of Jagger’s men, like Toby, had gone to Dad and asked them to waste precious resources retrieving his foolhardy daughter? God, especially at a time when they needed every bit of gold and other valuables they might have to spend on supplies so they’d even have a chance to fight back against Travis.

  Not that they did have a chance.

  Sophia dropped her face to the floor.

  A touch at her back had her pulling away and jerking around to look behind her. Mario withdrew his hand, his eyebrows knit in concern. He was hurt by her rejection.

  But couldn’t they see? She was a disaster. She always fucked everything up.

  She just wanted to fight for what she believed in, too. She wanted to be able to sacrifice everything for her country.

  She wanted to prove that if it ever came to it again, she wouldn’t hide in the fucking closet.

  Instead she’d dragged Finn away from where he could be useful and had gotten him shot by deserters in fucking New Mexico of all places.

  So when Leo tried to come close she held up a hand. “Don’t. I’m fine.”

  And then she stalked off, feeling like a child throwing a tantrum and hating herself even more.

  If only someone would just go and kill stupid Arnold Travis she thought after excusing herself to the ‘bathroom’—one of two small curtained off rooms with a port-a-potty. Sophia pinched her nose and paced the small room.

  Instead of these huge armies fighting against each other, if only someone could just get close enough to Travis and stab him in the neck with a dinner knife or something, when he was least expecting it.

  Like when Drea walked right into that room full of badass bikers. Sophia remembered being shocked, appalled, and impressed beyond words when she heard the girls Drea had rescued recounting what happened. Drea walked straight up to the head of the gang and pretended to give him a lap dance.

  Then she cut his dick off!!!

  No one ever expected women to do things like that. Women had been beaten down and subjugated ever since The Fall. But now apparently Drea was leading an army.

  But it wouldn’t be an army that would be able to get to Travis. He probably wouldn’t even get near the battlefield. No, he’d send his mercenaries, all the while staying nice and safe back in Fort Worth.

  But this war wouldn’t be over until that man was dead. Without him, though, the entire coup would fall to pieces.

  Sophia had listened to her dad talk enough times about how paranoid Travis was. He never let any one of his lieutenants become too powerful because he never wanted any of them challenging him.

  If he was killed, there’d be a power vacuum yes, but there wouldn’t be anyone else on hand to readily fill it. And without anyone to pay the mercenaries, that contingent would disappear and the rest of Travis’s forces would soon follow, even if Travis’s lackey’s started battling amongst themselves for the mantle of President. Sophia doubted they’d be able to get it together quickly enough, not if Drea’s army was as far advanced as that man had said.

  Five minutes later, by the time Sophia had actually used the restroom, washed her hands as best she could with the sliver of soap and bucket of water, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

  She’d go to Fort Worth and kill Travis herself.

  Of course, Finn, Mario, and therefore Leo, would never agree to her plan. They’d only get in her way and try to stop her.

  She knew her chances were slim.

  Very slim.

  The mission was most likely doomed, in fact.

  But so was Drea’s Army. Even if Sophia managed to get word to them in time warning them of what was waiting for them in Fort Worth and they pulled back, Travis’s Army would only come hunting them down in short order.

  Terrible times called for drastic measures.

  If Sophia died, she died.

  But she had to try.

  So Jagger was her only real option. He’d planned to extort her father while he was on the losing side of a war for God’s sake. He wouldn’t cry too many tears over her.

  But first.

  She had to say goodbye.

  Finn was still recuperating in the recovery area they’d set up in one of the curtained off rooms. The lights had dimmed after dinner and everyone in the warehouse was quieter as they readied for bed.

  Sophia pushed aside the curtain and saw Finn was sleeping on what looked like a futon mattress laid out on the concrete. There were three other men in the room on similar pallets, all asleep.

  Finn had passed out soon after the woman finished with the stitches earlier, which she’d said was good, just part of the body’s defense system to repair itself after
such a shock.

  Sophia didn’t know about that, but Finn’s coloring did look better. She didn’t want to wake him but she couldn’t help crouching down and then bending over to press the gentlest of kisses to his forehead, barely a whisper of her lips across his skin.

  His eyes jerked open as he startled awake.

  “Shit,” Sophia whispered, pulling back. “I’m sorry. Shh, it’s just me. Go back to sleep.”

  But Finn only braced himself on his elbows and tried to raise up on the mattress to look around, immediately wincing in pain when he did.

  “Finn!” Sophia hissed. “What are you doing? Lay down.”

  She pressed him back down to the bed by his good shoulder.

  His hand immediately reached up and took hers. “How long have I been out?” And then he grimaced.

  Sophia winced in sympathy. She couldn’t imagine how much a gunshot must hurt without pain medication. They’d only had a couple of ibuprofen to spare for him since it was a relatively ‘minor’ wound.

  “Finn, I’m so sorry.” Sophia sat down on the bed at his good side. “I’m so sorry I ever got you into any of this. You were right. We never should have come.”

  Finn’s eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t say that.”

  Sophia scoffed. “Wha—?”

  “Okay, so all the getting shot at and almost dying hasn’t been optimal.” He grimaced again but then his face went earnest and he squeezed her hand. “But Soph, I wouldn’t take back one second of the past couple weeks because…” he trailed off, then swallowed hard. “It took me thinking I was about to die to realize I’m a giant fucking idiot for not just telling you this sooner.”

  His eyes searched hers. “I love you, Sophia. I’ve loved you for years. Almost since the first moment I saw you when I walked into town that day.”

  Goosebumps rose all over Sophia’s skin. Was he being serious? There was no way he—

  She turned her back to him, her hands trembling as she gathered her knees to her chest. “That’s not funny, Finn.”

  His hand came to the small of her back. “I’m not joking, Sophia. This is me. Loving you more every day since I first walked into town and caught my first glimpse of you. Everything I’ve done since that day was to improve my odds in the pools so I had a better chance of being chosen in the lottery as your husband.”

  Sophia gasped and turned back to him. “What are you— But you—” She broke off again, closing her eyes and seeing him walking into Ana Martinez’s house. Ana was one of the unmarried older women in town who was past her childbearing years who chose to give her favors freely to men of her choosing. It was little wonder she’d accepted the strapping eighteen-year-old Finn into her bed when he’d come calling.

  “I know you used to go see Ana Martinez. I saw you once.”

  She didn’t miss Finn’s flinch at the name.

  “You saw that?” His voice was quiet, and that was all the admission she needed to know she hadn’t mis-seen that day.

  Still, she was a woman now, not a naïve girl. Men had… needs. Finn might have liked her, but it didn’t mean he was going to wait all those years for her to grow up and be eligible for a raffle to— well, to—

  “It’s not what you think, Soph.”

  Sophia scoffed again. “I’m not a little girl, Finn. And it’s fine. Whatever. The past is the—”

  But Finn just kept shaking his head, so vigorously that soon he was wincing and grabbing at his wounded shoulder.

  “Finn! Stop it, lay back.”

  She put her hands on his chest again and he grabbed both of them in his.

  “Sophia, I was a virgin on our wedding night.”

  “You were—” She blinked in confusion. “But you—”

  “I did go to Ana’s. So she could teach me about sex. And how to, you know,” his face flushed slightly, “to please a woman. But Soph, it was always with you in mind. I’ve never been with anyone except you. It’s always been you.”

  He’s injured, she reminded herself as she all but threw herself at him, trying to keep free of his hurt shoulder as she grabbed his face and kissed him with all her might.

  “I love you, too,” she murmured between breaths, kissing up his chin to his ear—God she loved the way he always had this scruff on his face, she loved the way the rough bristles felt against her lips—and then back to his mouth.

  “I had the biggest crush on you forever,” she said, running her hands through his hair, “and then when we got older and spent more time together, it was more. But I thought you didn’t feel—”

  “I did,” he rumbled before devouring her lips again. “I do.”

  “Ohhhhh,” she groaned into his mouth.

  “Soph, I need you. I need to be inside you. Right now.”

  “Finn,” she shook her head, “You’re hurt. We can’t—”

  “Pull my jeans down and straddle that sweet ass over me right this goddamned second, Soph, or I swear, bullet wound or not—”

  This might be the last time you see him.

  Because no matter how sweet this revelation was to hear, could she really let it change her plans? Right when she’d finally decided to be brave? No. No, this didn’t change anything. Even if it felt like it changed everything.

  So even though she second guessed herself the whole time, she took one glance around at the other men who were still asleep, then undid Finn’s jeans and yanked them down far enough to pull him out.

  Her sex clenched the second she did. He was so aroused, hard and thick and warm in her hand. She felt her slickness in her panties and suddenly couldn’t shove them down quick enough.

  She climbed on top of Finn before she could think better of it and positioned him at her entrance.

  Sex was still so new that she wasn’t sure she had him in the right place, but as his hips gently nudged upwards, he began to slip inside like it was the most natural thing in the entire world.

  “Oh God, Finn,” she gasped, pulling her hair over one shoulder so that it fell like a curtain between them and the rest of the room.

  Finn’s eyes glittered in the dim glow of the overhead warehouse lights.

  “I love you, Soph,” he said as she sank down inch by inch on top of him until he was fully seated inside her.

  As she looked down into his eyes and finally saw everything he wasn’t trying to hide any longer, it was so intense, so much, so perfect, so full, she couldn’t help the tears that started leaking down her cheeks.

  “Hey, don’t cry.”

  But she just shook her head and dipped down, holding herself up by her hand beside his head so she didn’t put pressure on his hurt shoulder.

  First she brushed her nose back and forth against his as she squeezed all of her pelvic muscles around his length inside her.

  “Jesus, Soph,” he choked out and she smiled, finally kissing him and starting to shift her hips forward and backwards.

  God, it felt so insanely good to slide up and down on his shaft like that, grinding down against his groin on every downstroke and getting friction exactly where she needed.

  It came swiftly. Being with Finn, being with him like this, knowing he loved her, and knowing this might be their last time, oh God—

  “Finn,” she gasped, clutching the bedclothes beside his head even as he said, “Jesus Soph, I don’t know how long I can—”

  And then together, they both tensed and spasmed like one single trigger had been pulled.

  Finn grabbed the back of her head and dragged her down for a kiss as he thrust deep and she felt him spill inside her.

  She writhed against his hard shaft, the heat exploding outwards from her core and lighting every nerve ending on fire.

  She disappeared into him.

  The future disappeared, and the past, and everything that wasn’t them, and this moment.

  She held onto it for as long as she possibly could, clutching onto it, onto him—

  But eventually, the heat dissipated and the dark of the dim room returned. There
was Finn’s labored breathing and her own and she realized she was lying more on him than she’d intended and she might be hurting him.

  “Your shoulder,” she said in alarm, trying to shift off to the side, but he just wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her still.

  “Shh,” he whispered. “Just a little longer.”

  Looked like she wasn’t the only one wanting to hold on.

  She bowed her forehead to his chest. Oh, Finn. Why couldn’t they have found this back in Jacob’s Well? During a normal Raffle, with the world not insane and ready to tear itself apart?

  But that world was gone. And if she ever wanted anyone to ever have it again, she had to try. She had to or she’d never be able to stand herself.

  “I love you,” she whispered as Finn blinked heavily and his arm around her waist went slack. “Always remember that.”

  He just squeezed her tighter for a moment before his arm went loose again. “Love you. Always,” he sighed, sounding contented.

  And it was with those words ringing in her ears that she pulled away from him and took what might be the last look she’d ever get of him, before turning to go and look for Jagger.

  Chapter Nineteen

  JAGGER

  This was for the best. Jagger knew it was. He wasn’t the good guy.

  And hey, if Sophia wanted to go on some suicide mission, who was he to stop her? Plus, he’d get paid out of the whole deal. All this pesky emotional bullshit would be finally over and done with. Pussy wasn’t worth this BS, that was for damn sure.

  “Here’s the coin your dad and I agreed on.” Jagger handed over a bag of gold to Bill’s son—melted down, purified, and stamped into coins in Odessa. “With more coming your way when I return with the vehicle.”

  Bill’s son, Jagger had forgotten his name, nodded and looked Sophia up and down.

  Jagger wanted to step in front of Sophia to block her from the ugly bastard’s gaze, and then was immediately annoyed at himself for the impulse.