Voices in the Darkness

by Rebecca Royce

  We walked in together. Stored in my purse was my private investigator gear. If anyone looked, they would see a lipstick, my cell phone, and a compact. Rick was big on hiding our stuff so that if a bouncer searched my bag, they wouldn’t keep me out. Some of the places we went really didn’t want us to record what went on in there.

  The music was loud inside, and I stopped for a second to watch the couples dancing in the center. I was always struck by this place. At what point in their lives did all of these people learn all of those dance moves? Strangers met and danced together like they’d been doing it for years.

  Colton’s hand came to my lower back, leading me to the bar. We took two stools, and I smiled at the bartender. He didn’t know who I was, despite the fact that I’d been here before. I wouldn’t expect him to.

  “You drink beer?” Colton asked me. “This seems like a beer place.”

  I shrugged. “I order beers, but I don’t drink them.”

  He stared at me, absorbing my words, and then ordered us two. With the smallest smile, he leaned over and kissed me square on the lips. I sighed against his mouth. Colton had been an expert when we were younger at making out. At least, it had seemed that way to inexperienced me. The man could still really kiss.

  Finally, he pulled back. The bartender delivered our beers without a second glance. Despite the fact that no one seemed to be bothered that we’d been making out, I knew better than most that there was always someone watching.

  He took a sip of his beer. “I know you’re working. I won’t get in the way. I just wanted to do that so that you would know that’s how I feel being back with you. We have to know each other again but… it’s still there for me, Lacey, like it always was.”

  I cleared my throat. “You’ve always managed to take my breath away, Colton.”

  I forced my attention from him to the rest of the room. The woman was here, but right now, she sat at a table. She drummed her fingers on the table, but that wasn’t proof. Nor was sitting in a bar. Maybe she was in pain, and this just distracted her.

  I’d need to be ready if anything happened, so I stopped staring to pull my phone from my purse.

  Colton side-eyed it, and I mouthed, “Camera.”

  He made an impressed sound, then turned his attention to the television above the bar like he wanted to watch it. The music was too loud to hear anything, but I appreciated him playing along.

  I watched along with him for a while, feigning interest in the game. Every now and then, I lifted the glass, but put it down before it touched my lips.

  Enough time had passed that I could do another scope of the room. Slowly, I turned on my stool. Couples were dancing close as the music began to slow. This wasn’t a fancy club with expensive drinks and big tippers. There wasn’t a well-known dee-jay, just the guy who probably had a day job and a turntable.

  The music changed from upbeat to slow, some dog died, cat cried, truck broke down country-pop crossover. A lot of people paired off, but there were some diehards, and I had to respect them.

  When my gaze fell back on the table where I’d last seen the woman, it was empty.

  At first it was hard to locate her. She was an average-looking woman in her mid-twenties. She’d been working at a school when some kid opened a door and knocked her in the head. Her paperwork claimed she had a concussion, which affected her middle ear. I wasn’t a doctor; I couldn’t make all the connections. The long and short of it was, she was getting paid, but not working, because she couldn’t walk a straight line.

  So it was really curious that one of the other teachers at the school caught her here.

  The light was dim, but not so dim I couldn’t see faces. Eventually, I found her. Brown hair with blonde highlights, big green eyes. She was staring into the face of the man holding her, and he was smiling down at her. The affection between the two of them was so obvious, it made me hesitate—just for a second—about taking surreptitious photos.

  Sighing, I reached for my phone and spun on the seat. I lifted the beer bottle to my mouth for a second.

  “Find what you’re looking for?” Colton asked. I could barely make out the question in the din.

  Unfortunately. I nodded and lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello? Hi, Mom! Yeah. I’m in a bar.” Time to be sneaky. I held my finger up, stood on the seat and stuck my finger in my ear. Most people didn’t pay attention to me, which was my goal. Just another girl on her phone, no big deal.

  With my phone as my prop, I managed to get close enough to the girl and her partner that I could snap some pics. This would do it.

  “Bye!” I said, just in case anyone was listening, and turned to go back to Colton, only to stumble to a stop.

  He held out his arms. “Dance?”

  That I heard. I was starting to overheat in my coat, and my feet were sweating in my mukluks, but I went right into his arms. Like we’d been doing this for years, we folded into each other. My head on his chest. His hands around my back. I smiled as we rocked back and forth and closed my eyes.

  I’d never gotten to a school dance, so this was the realization of a dream I never realized I had. More accurately, it was a dream the old Lacey would have never allowed herself to have. Bad girl Lacey at a school dance? Please.

  He smelled like Colton… clean, masculine, spicy, and the scent enveloped me as much as his arms did. A thought dawned on me, and I opened my lids to look up at him. “Did you go to prom? I can’t remember.”

  He shook his head. “We were compelled out of town right before it.”

  I winced. “I’m sorry.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, okay? I probably wouldn’t have gone. I’d have wanted to take you, and you wouldn’t want to go, so I’d have stayed home.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe I would have gone.”

  “Bullshit.”

  He was probably right. “Well, I like dancing now.”

  “I more than like it.” His voice was in my ear, a whisper of heat before he drew back.

  His mouth met mine in a sweet kiss. I loved it, but I wanted more. Pressing myself as close as I could to his body, I deepened the moment, inserting my tongue between his lips. He met me, moment for moment. It was like I’d given up on air and just needed Colton.

  Finally, he pulled back. “I want to bring you home before I embarrass myself on this dance floor.”

  “Let’s go.” I took his hand, drawing him off the dance floor with me to go back outside.

  “So you really love this? The frigid air? The freezing?” He held the door open for me, and a gust of cold air hit us both before we walked outside.

  I smiled at him. “I do.”

  He switched the car on before we got to it, but it wasn’t warm inside yet. Colton visibly shuddered at the steering wheel. “I think it’s going to take me a long time to get used to it. I knew you wanted to go north, but I’ll admit, I kind of thought that might be New York City.”

  I laughed. “Really?”

  “Sure, you could have been living it up in Manhattan. Where it is not a frozen tundra.”

  I motioned for him to pull the car out onto the street while I sent Rick the pictures I’d taken. This girl was going to have a bad week. “It used to bother me to chase around people, finding them doing bad stuff. Like she did tonight.”

  He glanced at me before turning his attention back to the road. “I could see that but… Lacey, like my not going to the prom, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t make her file a false report and go out partying. You aren’t making people cheat. You’re catching them, there’s a difference.”

  I nodded. “I’ve come to feel that way. And you know what? I also find out people are not cheating. They’re not lying. Sometimes, I stake out a person for a week, and all I see them doing is walking their dog and taking their grandmother to lunch.”

  “That’s like hunting the paranormal. Fifty percent of the time, I go somewhere and we find out that the person really just needs to have an electrician in. Nothing other-worldly.
Just bad lighting.”

  We drove home together, and although he did a fine job, by the time we got there, I could tell he was tired.

  Once we were inside the quiet house, I locked the door behind us.

  Colton pointed to the couch. “I’m going to crash.”

  I nodded, leaning to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for coming with me. Are you going to be okay on that couch?”

  “I’ve slept worse places. See you in the morning.”

  I made my way to my bedroom, passing by the guest room door, which was cracked open. Both the Chee men were asleep, quietly passed out on the twin beds. I looked around. Where was Thorn?

  I found him a second later, quietly snoring in my bed. I grinned. There he was, my childhood best friend, out cold on my bed like he had every right to be there.

  I grabbed my pj’s and tiptoed back downstairs into the bathroom. Cigarette smoke stuck to my hair and clothes, so I quickly shed them and jumped into the shower. I hadn’t let it warm up, and so I stood for a second, freezing like poor Colton had in the car earlier.

  As I washed my hair, I thought about Colton’s question about going north. I had ended up here, pretty much by chance, and couldn’t have landed in a more perfect place.

  At least, that was what I had thought before the guys arrived. Now, I realized that I was living a happy, but lonely, life.

  Thorn was in my bed. Aaron and Oliver in my guest room. Colton on my couch.

  I hurried through the rest of my shower, cutting my leg with my razor and swearing under my breath.

  Thorn is in my bed. The thought was on a loop in my mind. I was going to crawl into bed next to Thorn. I paused brushing and stared at my reflection. I wasn’t going to be lonely anymore.

  I tossed my toothbrush onto the counter and hurried down the hall, pausing only for a second before going upstairs into my room and shutting the door.

  Thorn hadn’t moved, but he was snoring a little. Giggling, I crept to the bed. He was on my side, his face relaxed, mouth slightly open as if he couldn’t draw in enough air through his nose.

  His hand suddenly shot out, grabbed mine, and pulled me into the bed. The sheets were warm from his body heat, and he smelled good and a little like me. I guessed he’d used my soap.

  He pushed my wet hair back, holding it away from my face. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “You were asleep.” I was draped over him, and even though he held my hair back, it still dripped onto him. My house was snug, but it wasn’t so warm that I could wear anything sexy. Not that I had any sexy pajamas—I wasn’t out to impress my battery-operated boyfriend.

  “I was lying in wait.” He smiled, white teeth flashing. I reached up, skimming my hand over his beard. He wore boxer briefs but that was all, and he was getting longer and harder against my thigh.

  We stayed like that, staring and smiling at each other, but slowly, the amusement faded. I wanted him, and he wanted me.

  “Ball’s in your court, Lacey,” he whispered, gaze dropping from my eyes to my lips and then back again.

  I dragged my hand from his beard down his chest and then snuck it under the elastic band of his briefs. He was hot and hard, and I gripped him. Sliding my hand from tip to root and back again, I let my actions speak for me. This moment wasn’t going to pass us by.

  He sucked in his breath and then grinned. “I promise that with some things… I’m more in control than I used to be. But, damn, your hand on me? It’s like… so fucking good.”

  I smiled at him, kissing his chin, letting the beard tickle my lips. “I think you remember that differently than me.”

  He flared his nostrils and scooted forward. Slipping his hand inside my pajama pants, he found my pussy. “Tell me how you remember it.”

  I sighed, pleasure starting from my toes and traveling to the end of my nose. When it hit—if it hit—I was going to explode. “I remember that you were really, really beautiful. That you took care of me. That you somehow found me so attractive when no one did. I remember feeling beautiful because that happened amidst the darkness.”

  He groaned. “I felt like such a loser.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “You were absolutely not that.”

  He kissed me again, pressing his finger harder against my clit. I cried out. Yes, that much pressure. That was what I needed. His cock swelled in my hand. I guessed he liked that, too. Thorn kissed me over and over as we explored each other until I writhed from it and he pulsed.

  This was good. I wanted it, and I could come from it, but I wanted more. I shifted, squirmed out of my underwear, and slung a leg over him. Now he was in almost the perfect spot. I glided over him, covering him in the evidence of my arousal, and then lined him up perfectly.

  He stopped me, fingers digging into my thighs. “We don’t have to.”

  I’d had years of dreaming about this, and if I’d learned one thing, it was not to let a moment pass me by. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow. Maybe Oliver would see the darkness in me and warn his friends. Maybe they’d be on a plane out of Anchorage.

  “I want to.” It was more than that. I needed him. But that might scare him, for all of his declarations.

  “Fuck, Lacey. We need protection.”

  “I’m covered,” I got out, just as I slid over him, pushing him inside me as far as he could go. I let out a sigh, and just rested there for a minute. Inside me, he pulsed. Thorn’s jaw was gritted, the tendons in his neck standing out as if he was in pain.

  That wasn’t how I wanted him to feel.

  Carefully, because I wanted it to last, I lifted myself off him and sat back down. His fingers dug into my hips, rocking me forward and then back.

  It wasn’t going to take me long at all. He let out a breath, gaze locked on mine, and I smiled. He was holding on, trying his very best not to come before I did.

  But it wasn’t a competition. All I wanted was for him to feel as good as he made me feel. He lifted his hand from my hip, placing it over my heart.

  “We can’t go back,” he got out through gritted teeth. “We’re never going back after this.”

  I loved the sound of that—a hint of the future where we were together. He ground up against me, and I was done.

  My body took over as my mind shut off. I was only sensation—warmth, relief. I was free-falling off the edge of a cliff.

  Thorn came a second later. He cried out, the sound filling my bedroom as he erupted inside me. I was warm all over now and utterly boneless. Collapsing on top of him, I tried to catch my breath. He traced circles on my back while kissing the parts of my face he could reach.

  It took a while for my thoughts to gather in any sort of coherent way. I had only the glimmer of an idea that sex could be like this. It was amazing anyone got anything done in this world when there was the possibility of these feelings.

  Thorn sighed, and I tilted my head back so I could kiss him. He plucked at my lips before his tongue traced them. I opened, drawing him in, and just like that, the warmth started up again.

  He rolled us, slipping out of me, but he didn’t stop kissing me.

  The guys I’d had sex with in the past took this opportunity to jump in my shower or scoot out the door, but not Thorn. In no hurry to disengage, he continued to kiss and explore my body. We were sweaty and sticky, but I didn’t care. And he didn’t seem to either.

  He kissed my chin. “I had a constant search going for you. All these years. The means of doing it changed as technology altered, but I always searched. And then one day—ping—on my screen, there was your name. Like a fucking gift.”

  I stroked my fingers down the side of his face. “Thorn, I really thought that—”

  “I know. I mean, I understand what you thought. I don’t agree, but I get it. And I didn’t mean to start this discussion right now. What I do want to say is… I know that it’s weird, but I’ve watched the other three of them miss you, too. For all these years. A decade of time. Maybe I should be strutting around proclaiming you’re all
mine. But back home, we had all agreed that you could have whoever you wanted. All of us, or none of us, or one of us. I don’t think that’s changed. I’m in love with you. A decade didn’t cool that for me.” He visibly swallowed, and I pushed down my panic. “It’s never going anywhere. It’ll still be there when you stop being scared of it, and if you need to love them, too? That’s okay, Lacey. That doesn’t make you any less mine.”

  I ran my fingers across his lip. “Is this like an open relationship? I see them, and you see whoever you want, too?”

  “I only want you. And I wouldn’t be cool with you suddenly dating strangers while you dated me. But I go to battle with those men sometimes. I’ve seen things that shouldn’t exist. I’ve watched them handle with ease things that most people would turn and run from. I could understand why you’d want them, too. Frankly, knowing they had your back would be a relief.” He yawned. “Sorry, I think I’m actually tired.”

  I snuggled up next to him, wrapping us up in my quilt. The room had heated up, but now it was cooling down. “If you get cold, I have another blanket I can get out of the closet.”

  The only response was Thorn sort of mumbling something as he tucked me against him. Within minutes, he snored, same as he had when we were kids. I smiled. I should have known he wasn’t really asleep earlier. It had been too quiet.

  My head throbbed, and now that I had no one to distract me, I was keenly aware of the pain again. Rolling over because I didn’t want to bother Thorn, I realized I’d probably overdone it today.

  All the running around. The bar. The dancing. The kissing.

  And then the incredible sex with Thorn.

  Yeah. This wasn’t the resting the doctor had in mind for me, but that was fine. I’d take the headache for all the incredible memories I made today.

  I tucked myself back in next to Thorn, and he wrapped his leg over mine as though in sleep, he wanted to keep me where I was.

  I hardly ever slept well, but the day’s activities, coupled with my headache, did make my eyes close. Thorn was like his own heating blanket, and I’d never felt so warm.