by Finn, Emilia
“Yes.” She pants. “I love it when you make me cry in bed.”
“Such a dirty girl.” I crack my open palm over her ass and groan when her pussy squeezes me tight. “You’re my naughty girl, aren’t you, Sophia?”
“Yes.”
“All mine?”
“Yes.”
I grab her hips and pull her back so we meet with a crash. She takes all of me. She swallows me up and asks for more, and though I know it hurts her, she doesn’t tell me to stop. “I’m gonna keep you, Sophia. I’m gonna keep you forever.” I mindlessly fuck her until my thighs burn. She cries out each time we meet, her hands fisting the sheets, but she pushes back each time. She’s my equal in bed. She’s small, delicate, and beautiful, but she’s no mouse.
“Jay…” She squeezes me tight and cries into her pillow. “Fuck! Jay.”
“Yeah, beautiful.” I pull out fast before my balls draw up and empty themselves. I have no condom and no intention to grab one. Soph’s head snaps up at the loss. Her murderous eyes come around and meet mine, but I line my cock up at her ass and inch it in until her anger turns to flat out panic.
“Oh, shit.”
“Don’t freak out, babe. Let me in.”
She turns back to the pillow and buries her face as I inch in slowly. I won’t slam home this first time. I want to spank her and hurt her. But I won’t tear her open and hurt her for real. “Try to push me out, Soph. Try to push me out with your muscles.”
I feel the change, from resistance to opening up and allowing me in. She cries out and fists the sheets, but in the same breath, she groans and pushes back against me. Panting, she rocks and allows my cock in one inch at a time.
“So fucking tight, Sophia. So insanely tight.”
“Keep going.” She brings a hand between her legs and slides her fingers into her pussy. I feel her fingers sliding in and out and rubbing along my cock; the only thing separating us is the wall between her ass and her pussy. “Oh my God! Jesus. Keep going.”
“Not Jesus, Tiny Dancer. And not God.” I seat myself inside her and stop to breathe. “So fuckin’ tight.” Slowly pulling out, I hold my breath to stop my orgasm from tearing me apart. “Come for me, Soph. I need you to hurry up.”
“Move faster.” Her hand slides beneath her body. “You can move now.”
Pulling back to the very tip, I slide in again and throw my head back on a roar. “Fuck, Sophia!”
“So good,” she whimpers. Pushing back when I move too slow for her, she reseats my cock deep inside her ass, cries out, then moves forward again until it’s her fucking me.
It’s all I can do to hold my breath and not come.
“I’m gonna come, Jay. I’m gonna… ah!” She clamps tight around me, milking my cock and strangling it at the same time. Her body spasms; her spine arches, and her whimpers turn to screams as I come deep inside her and fill her up.
“Oh my God.” Collapsing when her orgasm runs its course, she drops her chest to the bed and suffocates herself with the pillow.
Her ass remains up, my cock still pulsing inside.
“Fuck, Jay.”
“Mmm.” I lean forward and pepper kisses on the middle of her back, her shoulder blade, the back of her neck. “You just adapt, don’t you? No backing down.”
“Never.” Her breath races in and out so her expanding lungs lift her chest. “Only losers back down.”
Snorting, I pull back slowly and try not to hurt her now that the moment has passed. Her body tenses, but as soon as my softening cock is out, she collapses to the mattress and sighs. “Mmm. That felt better than I’d like to admit.”
“I’ll admit it for both of us.” I lie on my side and brush hair off her face. “That was fucking amazing. We’re definitely doing it again.”
“It hurt.” I lift a questioning brow, which makes her lips twitch. “But only a little bit.”
“You’re my little freak, huh?” Reaching up, I run the pad of my thumb along her strong jaw. I remember the very sound her head made last night when she was thrown off Trenton’s back. I remember the way she swayed and her head swam. I’ve never been so happy in my life to not need to sleep all night. So I can watch her. So I can keep her safe. “You like it when I make you hurt, don’t you?”
“Maybe.” Blushing, she puckers her lips and smiles when I oblige. “I never met a man who could keep up before.”
I turn serious and shake my head. “We don’t talk about other men, Sophia. Pretend you never existed before me.”
Snickering, she turns to her side so we face each other. She brings a hand up to my forehead and strokes my scar, and after studying it in the silence for a long beat, she allows me a moment to remember the last two years of my life, but where I thought Ace was a guy, I replace with Sophia.
She saw it all. She saw the women, the drugs, Abel, my brother.
She saw me die.
“You scared the shit out of me when this happened,” she admits. “Swear to Christ, I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest.”
“You got me out of the club?” I actually don’t remember anything about that day. I remember sleeping on a friend’s couch; I remember craving my next hit so much I was willing to eat coffee beans just to feel something. I remember running away, because that’s the day my friend was going to send me to a rehab place to get back on track. But going to rehab meant leaving Kane. I couldn’t do that, so I ran; I hid; I found myself in a blazing club with his girlfriend in my arms.
Then I found myself here, in the hospital, with a massive fucking headache.
“How’d you get me out?”
“I have muscle other than you.” Her lips twitch, but her finger continues to stroke my hairline. “I sent him in as soon as you dropped, had you transported to the hospital, had you transferred over here before they figured out my John Doe was Jay Bishop–”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait.” I grab her wrist and still her movements. “Go back.”
Her dark eyes sparkle. “Hm?”
“You got other muscle?”
She snickers. “Of course. I’m never unprepared.”
“You sleep with your other muscle, Sophia? You dance for them? Because I might push a bunch of meatheads in front of a truck if you say yes.”
“No.” Leaning forward, she drops a kiss on my lips, then lies so her lips rest against my chest. “I’ve been in a serious relationship with my computer for a long time. Men mostly annoy me.”
“But not me?”
“Especially you,” she laughs. “You might be the most annoying of them all. You think I can’t decipher Morse code? You think I didn’t know you were asking for a burger when you tapped your ceiling?”
Chuckling, I bring her fingertips up to my lips and nibble. “I didn’t know, but I’m glad I was using my gentlemanly manners, because I was going to ask for a BJ.”
“Pig.”
I shrug. “I saw your computer just before.”
“My computer?”
“Uh-huh. The one that has security feed of my apartment. You’ve been watching me?”
She flashes a full smile. “I told you I could see you. I told you I could see everything.”
“You watch me whack off for the hot ballerina upstairs?”
Her pulse thrums faster. “Couple times.”
“Such a dirty girl,” I laugh. “I swear, I’m finding it difficult to accept you as Ace. I always thought he was a dude.”
“Why?” She pushes up to one elbow and stares into my eyes. “Because women can’t be smart? Because women can’t be your superior? Because women–”
“Talk too much?” I catch her fist when she swings back to hit me. “I wasn’t trying to be a misogynist, babe. I just assumed.” I pull her back down so her head rests on my chest. “The emails felt, I dunno, like I was an army brat again, like my father was handing down orders. I just assumed Ace was a guy and ran with it. Then I saw you last night, but still, I didn’t assume you were Ace; I assumed you were a fuckin’
stripper. I was mad because you were shaking your ass for other men, but I never really got mad that you lied.”
“Your priorities are all screwed up.”
“No.” Bringing a finger under her jaw, I draw her face up until I can press my lips to hers. “My priorities are just fine. Speaking of…” I smack her butt again and restart what I tried to do half an hour ago. “You gotta get up. We’re going to Ginnie’s. You can say goodbye, then we’re heading out.”
“Heading out?” She sits up. “Heading out where?”
“Kane left the program, Soph. Our target is looking for him, so instead of us chasing our tails, we just go to Kane.” It guts me to say it, but, “he’s our bait.”
“Um, no. I’m not leaving this city until I’ve dealt with my problem. You can go, I guess. But I’m staying.”
“We have the same problem, Soph. Same guy. And that guy will be getting word soon that Kane is out. If you got word, then so will he.”
“I set up keyword searches for his name, Jay. I hacked federal databases and set up the search so I would get alerts when he’s mentioned. But there are no bulletins going out about this.”
“First,” I stand and fix my sweatpants. “That is so fucking illegal, Soph. So insanely illegal, you’re talking Supermax time if you get caught. I used to be a cop once, and this knowledge makes me feel all tingly inside.”
She grins. “I won’t be caught. I’m too smart.”
“B: I need to know how you know that shit.” I point at her, then toward her V-shaped desk that resembles something NASA might use. “We’re gonna talk, and you’re gonna spill your entire life story from the moment your dad jacked inside your mom, right up until now. I need to know everything, I even wanna know her birth story and whether you came out her snatch or the sunroof, because I can’t understand what the fuck is going on until I know the details.”
Her pert little nose wrinkles. “You’re disgusting.”
“And three: we’ve already established our guy works for the people who own those databases you’re so sure you control. If you set up searches, who’s to say he didn’t, too?”
“Because I’m smarter than him. I’m smarter than everyone.”
“You’re also arrogant, and I learned a long time ago arrogance can either win your war, or lose it. Be careful on that razor edge, babe. The fall will hurt.”
“Oh, shut up.” She rolls her eyes and scoots to the edge of the bed. Feeding her arms into the robe she tossed hours ago, she stands and makes the ick face. “Your jizz is dribbling along my leg, and I’m really unsure how I feel about this right now.”
I know how I feel about it. Like a fucking king. “Go, shower, pack. Ginnie’s, then we’re going.”
She turns halfway across room and scowls. “I’m not leaving! All of my stuff is set up here. All of my files, my computer, my clothes. Everything I need is right here.”
“Everything you need on your laptop? All scanned in and stored away?”
“Yes.” Her words say yes, but her eyes scream of course, dumbass!
“So you’re all set. Shower. Move.”
“Fuck you, Jay! You didn’t give me orders yesterday, and you sure as hell don’t start giving them today. I’m not your pretty little dancer when we work this. I’m Ace; Ace is your superior, and I demand the respect that comes with that.”
“Ya know, I never fucked my superior before. That offer still open?”
“No!”
“Now?” I push away from the bed and grin when her attitude turns to laughter.
“No!” She darts toward the shower and flips the taps on. “I’m showering. Go away. You go to Ginnie’s, get us food, bring it back.”
I follow her into the bathroom and study her seductive body under the hot spray. The bruising she’s yet to mention stretches from her shoulder to her hip. There’s a limp to her walk and the way she favors her toes over flat feet. He hurt her last night, which is precisely why I twisted that fucking knife.
“You won’t get a chance to say goodbye to Gin if you don’t come down. I thought you were pals?”
“I’m not saying goodbye!” she shouts over the water pressure. “We’re not leaving! I’m staying right here and continuing what I started a long time ago.”
She is leaving, because I’m not wrong about this. Kane’s out; he’s unprotected, and he doesn’t know he’s in someone’s sights, which means all the arrows will point back to the tiny town where all of this started for me. I’m going there, and Sophia will come even if I have to tie her up and shove her in the trunk.
“A couple days alone time oughtta give you thinking time.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, beautiful. I’m going to get food. Back soon. I’ll tell Gin you said peace out.” I walk away from Sophia’s naked body and head back to the bed. Swapping my sweats for jeans, and pulling boots on over thick socks, I search for my coat in preparation for the cold outside. It’s easy to forget I was freezing so recently. I shamelessly mooch Sophia’s heating and get smacked in the face each time I walk back into the hall and remember the rest of the world isn’t a warm oasis.
She pays exorbitant heating bills with gangster money… I couldn’t be more proud.
Pulling my beanie low over my eyes and shoving my nine millimeter into the back of my jeans, I swing out the apartment door and grin at the sound of Sophia humming in the shower.
She says I’m the most annoying person she knows, but she smiles when I’m around.
I don’t believe for a second that she dislikes my company.
Jogging down past my apartment door, stomping on the third floor, then swinging out the glass entrance at the front, I head left and salivate at the thought of a Ginnie burger. She’s fast; she’s good, and I’m starving.
Digging my hands into my pockets and finding Kane’s blade in my left, I feel more than just gummies in my right. Pulling my hand out, I grin at the protein bar Soph must’ve left for me. I rip the foil wrapper away and take a large bite until my jaw aches. She cares about me. She pretends not to, but I’m not stupid, and I have a protein bar to keep me strong.
I practically skip along the street with a goofy grin and no worries for the first time in… years. Decades, even.
We still have a lot of shit to deal with, a lot of grief to work through, a lot of fuckers to maim and kill in search of revenge. But for the ten minutes it’ll take me to get a burger and flirt with Ginnie, I allow myself to smile and go with it.
I get to see my brother in just a few days.
And I might be finding a little of the light of my own.
“Good morning, handsome.”
I flash a wide smile when I step through the diner door and catch a load of Ginnie cleaning her counter. “Morning, beautiful.” Shoving the rest of my protein bar in my mouth, I pocket the foil wrapper and stop at the counter so Gin can take my hands. “I’m so hungry, my hungry is hungry.”
“As usual.” Her eyes flash playfully. “Burger and fries?”
“Times two! Soph is back home, and she’s hungry too.”
She tsks and turns away to put my order in with the cook. “Big bad wolf, you are. She’s just a good girl, trying to sit alone in a diner while she filled her belly, but you just had to swagger on in and make her smile for you, huh? The challenge was just too much for you to walk away.”
“But she’s so pretty, Gin.” I laugh when she whips her hand towel out and the tips slap my hand.
“You’re so bad. And you’re so handsome, I know why she couldn’t resist you.”
“It’s the Bishop genes, Ginnie. Women can’t resist us.”
“Bishop?” She stops on her side of the counter and leans on her hip. “Boy, that’s not the last name you used when you flirted with her that time.”
I have a moment to panic that I just blew my cover with one tiny little slip. My sex-fogged brain and hunger-pained stomach have me spouting off at the mouth and forcing me to make mistakes. But the worry comes and goes like water
over rocks. Ginnie isn’t selling me to anyone, and I’m taking Soph away in a matter of hours.
“Just a nickname, Gin. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sophia know your secrets?”
Our eyes meet across a red and white counter. “Yes, ma’am, she does.”
“Then that’s all I care about.” Smiling, she turns to the coffee machine and takes out a gallon of milk. “Want some cocoa to take back to your lair? I bet that sweet girl needs a little energy right about now.”
“Thank you, beautiful. Times two.”
“Of course.”
I sit back at the counter and take out the sugar packets that stand in holders every few feet. Counting out the packets, I line them up and think back to a time when the white substance in a line wasn’t sugar. Back when I hardly knew which way was up anymore, when I thought the dirty batch Abel tested us with would be the end of my miserable life.
I was so miserably sick, I wished for death.
I crashed on my cop friend’s couch and spewed until my stomach felt inside out. I wept for peace and fought off my friend’s hands when he was only trying to fish my tongue from my throat and save me from myself. Riley Cruz saved my life, and according to the reports I requested from Ace – from Soph – a month ago, Riley was injured in the line of duty and now walks around minus a leg. He almost died because of his heroic actions, but I nearly died because I was a junkie who took hit after hit without checking the quality anymore.
So fucking stupid.
The loud crash of glass outside has my head snapping up. My stomach jumps into my throat when squealing tires skid in the street, and Ginnie spins with a gasp, but I spring from my stool and send it whipping to the floor as I sprint across the empty diner and outside.
Black clouds of smoke billow just one block up.
“No!” I sprint against the tide, passing people running from the old Benson building, away from the inferno that engulfs the old façade and turns it to a crumbled pile of bricks.
12
Escape
Sophia
