by Alice Ward
“Caleb!” I stepped forward, intent on getting him to let the man go before he ended up in jail. Then there would be no hope of finding his sister.
“She’s my sister. She disappeared ten years ago.”
“I know,” the man spat, “she told me.”
“She told you?” Caleb loosened his grip.
“Yeah. Get the fuck off me.”
Caleb stepped back and looked in the direction the man pointed. “She went that way. It was less than five minutes ago.”
Caleb took off, jogging in that direction. After shooting the pissed EMS guy a quick, “Sorry,” I ran after him. He was already turning the corner when I caught up, and he stopped at the next intersection, looking around frantically. “I don’t see her. It’ll be faster to get the car.”
I ran after Caleb to the car, where he threw it in drive as he called Hunter on the Bluetooth.
Hunter had barely answered when Caleb blurted, “I found her, and she’s gone again.” His voice broke, and I thought he would break down, but he pulled himself back together when Hunter’s voice shot through the speakers.
“Where?”
“I’m at the intersection of Abraham Flexner and Floyd. Meet me.”
“Five minutes.”
The call disconnected, and it was like Caleb just realized I was in the car.
“I’m going to have Hunter take you home.”
“Caleb, I can—”
Caleb turned to me and practically snarled, “I think it would be best if you weren’t involved.”
Not involved? I was already involved. Just moments ago, we were in bliss land, holding hands and going for ice cream. Now, Caleb was an unrecognizable entity. Cold. Stiff. Almost threatening.
I started to argue then sat back in my seat. “Okay.”
Hunter arrived only moments later. He opened my door and escorted me out, as if they had prearranged the whole thing. That was when it struck me that they’d done this before. Found her before, and she’d probably taken off again just as quick.
I hung out on the sidewalk while Hunter leaned down and spoke in hushed tones with Caleb, but while I was curious to know what they were discussing and would have liked to have been included in helping Caleb locate his sister, I knew it was none of my business. Plus, Hunter had an edge to him now like I’d never seen. He was usually so easygoing, but now he was buttoned up as tight as Caleb.
So when Hunter shut the door and gestured toward his car, and Caleb took off with a screech, I got in and didn’t say a word except to direct Hunter to my house.
The house, always so warm and full seemed empty when I walked in, even though it was filled with the sounds of the kids getting ready for bed.
Caleb’s presence was missing, the Caleb who had shown me a warmer side of himself. I wondered if he’d be like that again after tonight.
A shiver slipped through me as I headed to my room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Caleb
I wasn’t sure how long Hunter and I combed the streets.
We drove up and down the blocks of downtown looking at each person until our eyes burned.
We stopped at each shelter.
Nothing.
Lillie was nowhere.
Gone. Again.
Hunter finally convinced me to go home for the night. The only reason I agreed was because each time we asked the same questions, held out the same picture of Lillie like we’d done so many years ago, Hunter disappeared more into himself. That was when I admitted to myself that I wasn’t the only one who loved her. Hunter loved her, had since that summer long ago when we all talked excitedly about our college plans but each silently dreaded the coming separation.
Hunter loved her. Like a lover.
So I dropped him at his car, mostly so he would get some rest. And continued my search alone.
Now, I was parked in front of Cherry’s, my cold fingers still gripping the steering wheel. I couldn’t remember driving here, but I supposed my autopilot had kicked in because my heart had shattered into a million frigid pieces and this was the only place I could remember being warm in the last decade.
A tap sounded on the passenger side glass. Turning, I saw Cherry peering in at me.
I didn’t want to be alone right now. Needed to but couldn’t. Couldn’t face it again. I just wanted to break free of the icy-cold that had numbed my world. Wanted her heat.
I hit the unlock button, and she got in. “Let’s go to your place.”
Without responding, I drove there, and we rode up in the elevator with her shooting concerned glances my way the whole time.
Was it just a few hours ago I’d been driving us to The Comfy Cow? The car had been filled with a euphoric pressure. Now, the pressure was a tension that started in my lower abdomen, the feeling only amplified as Cherry shifted against me.
God, she was so beautiful. And strong. Perhaps it was selfish of me to think of pressing her against the elevator wall, stripping her and raising her leg then plunging inside her warmth. She leveled that heavy gaze at me that told me she wanted me. But my control was about to break, and when it did, I didn’t know if she could handle it.
The elevator dinged and came to a stop, doors opening. We both stepped out as I felt the control I was desperately hanging on to slip. Turning to her, I pressed her roughly against the wall, taking her mouth so there could be no hope of talking.
Her mouth opened to my tongue, and I plunged in, her body taking my weight. She arched against me, and my cock went to full mast as I pressed it against her. When she whimpered, I realized I had each of her wrists in my hands, holding them against the wall.
I let go, stepped back.
But she followed, hooking her arms around my neck and hanging on, lifting herself and wrapping her legs around my waist.
Somehow unlocking the door, we crashed into the penthouse that way, and I hooked the door shut with my foot. I trusted her to know what she could and couldn’t handle, and to stop me if I went too far. I’d wanted to protect her from this, from me, but she wasn’t a child. And right now, I couldn’t stop.
Didn’t stop as I carried her, her tight ass in my hands, her delicate center beneath my roving fingers as she moaned into my mouth.
I ripped her sweater over her head, her arms raising in the air long enough to make me miss them. I needed her hands on me. Needed her in a way I’d never needed another human being.
And somehow, Cherry knew. Pressing delicate little kisses against my face, she gripped me tighter with her legs as she ground down on my dick.
“Caleb.”
“No talking.”
I threw her down on the bed, pulled off her boots, hooked my fingers under her tights and yanked them and her socks from her body, leaving her in her bra and underwear. It was way too much. “You’re overdressed.”
“No talking,” she responded and ripped my dress shirt open, buttons flying across the room.
I laughed, but it was a laugh that had tears on the edge of it, so I dove into her neck, sinking my teeth in, biting down her chest to her bra. I dipped it low and devoured one nipple, sucking, letting my teeth come back out as she writhed beneath me. Her hands went to my belt, undid it and my pants as I freed her of the bra and threw it to the corner of the room.
She pushed herself up on her elbows and surprised me by flipping me to my back then swinging a leg over my waist until she was straddling me. I stared openly as her beautiful breasts bounced above me, free of their restraint, nipples already hard and pointed.
I reached up, wanting to feel the softness of them against my palms — the only softness I could think of right now — only to have her swing away and glide down my body.
Her eyes flicked to me, and she paused for just a second, making sure I watched her with undivided attention.
And I was. With the iron will I’d developed, I whittled my world down to this room, to the subtle movements of this woman, so nothing else could break in.
Once she was sure she
was holding my gaze, she slowly slid down my thighs, her skin gliding over mine, drawing a hiss from me. When she finally hovered over my cock, she wiggled out of the scrap of material of her underwear. Then she was bare before me, with only the carefully trimmed hair of her pussy covering my view.
I held out my hand to her, beckoning her to straddle me.
But she just smiled and dipped her head, took the tip of my cock in her mouth.
Every muscle in my body tightened to near the breaking point. I forced myself to take deep breaths so I wouldn’t come in her mouth right then.
Her mouth that was taking in more of me. No play involved, just opening up and taking all of me into that hot mouth until her lips were buried in my pelvis. My hands dug into the bedspread in an effort to hold myself still when I wanted to pull back, then buck inside her warm cavern. Fuck her mouth until she gagged and begged me to stop.
Making her way back up, her tongue swirled around me, teasing around the mushroom head, then she surrounded me once again as she took me into her throat. I felt her gag, but she held herself in place. Sucking hard on her way back up, she let my cock come out of her mouth with a pop, took a breath then went down on me again, pressing her soft tits against my legs.
I buried my hands in her hair, riding her up and down motion as she sucked me in and licked her way back up.
I groaned her name, my balls tightening as my load readied itself to explode into her mouth. Her head popped up, and the loss of her mouth made me grit my teeth, and I wanted to flip her to her back and enter her so hard she screamed.
But she was fast, climbing up me in one motion until she was straddling my legs once more.
God, I wanted to put my mouth on her, taste her and drive her absolutely mad.
But she had other plans, and I was in no mood to derail them.
She slid her waiting, wet core against my engorged cock, gliding up my length. Then down. Then up again. My muscles stiffened with holding back as I immersed myself in her honeyed movements until I was on the edge again.
As much as I liked her writhing atop me, cheeks flushed pink, I couldn’t take any more.
I slid one hand under her knee, one at the small of her back, and with a quick movement reversed our position so that I was on top, her thighs squeezing my hips as she looked up at me in surprise.
“Smooth,” she remarked, pushing her hair from her face.
“I try,” I growled before bending down and claiming her mouth, my lips, teeth and tongue thoroughly lavishing attention down her jawline, her neck to her collarbone. I took a nipple into my mouth and nibbled with my teeth before fumbling in my nightstand for a condom.
She arched up into me, gasping as I switched to the other nipple, gave it the same treatment and used that moment to roll on the rubber and position myself. At her center, I slid into her, fast and hard, burying myself deep within her.
We both let out a harsh breath, and pleasure shot up my spine like lightning. I nearly came right then and there, but I managed to hold on, get control by clenching my fists and staying still inside her.
“God, you feel so good inside me,” Cherry gasped.
Her words shattered my control, and I pulled back, surging forward to thrust into her. The responding hitch in her breath urged me on, and I pulled out and pushed forward again.
Cherry responded to each one of my thrusts with a corresponding roll of her hips, bearing down on me in just the right way, and it drove me wild.
I picked up the pace until I was pounding inside her, our skin slapping with the intensity. For several moments, there was nothing but us breathing and melding against each other.
God, I was close, so close again. She surrounded me. The softness of her skin, the yield of her body, the scent of our sex filling the room.
I reached down and found the sensitive apex of nerves hidden just between her lips. Pressing against the nub, I rubbed in a circle and felt her respond immediately. She clamped down on me, the muscles of her walls holding me like a vise.
She was about to unravel, and I took full advantage, shifting my hips to hit the spot that I knew would drive her insane.
A keening cry erupted from her lips, the sound like music to me, a symphony that sent me tumbling over my own edge.
I exploded, my hips thrusting of their own accord as she tightened and released around me. Collapsing, I caught myself just in time, rolling to the side of her.
“That was amazing,” she gasped, curling into me. As soon as her light kiss touched my chest, it must have come back to her why we had ended up in such a frantic rush, and her eyes flicked up to my face.
Earlier, I’d felt continents away from life, and now, her touch was all I wanted.
“It was,” I answered, kissing the top of her head.
Already, her eyes were fluttering, and I could tell that she wanted to go to sleep. I held her as she slipped under, watching her breathe in and out, the flush on her face fading as she dreamed of what I hoped were good things. Things that I probably wouldn’t dream of tonight.
And while I watched her, I faced the fact that this was different from anything else I’d ever had. Far different. With Cherry, I didn’t need to be a shark in the waters, I didn’t need to have an impenetrable wall up that was fifty feet high. I could just be me.
But soon, she would want more than this. And after having Lillie within my grip, I couldn’t take my focus from finding her again. Not after not being this close. Not after ten years. I couldn’t be this safe, content, and happy while my sister was… I shuddered, not wanting to imagine how she’d been living.
Staring up at the darkened ceiling with the moon casting light through the curtains, I realized that I was falling in love. I’d never thought it was a possibility for me before, had made sure it wasn’t, but I didn’t know what else to call the feelings taking root within me.
It was a daunting thought, one I needed to fight. I couldn’t feel like this. Wouldn’t allow myself to feel like this.
But I did.
I remembered what Andre said about me being a distraction to Cherry, and Cherry was absolutely a distraction to me.
I needed to end this, for both of our sakes, before either of us fell any deeper.
Glancing down at her, sleeping so sweetly in my arms, I promised myself that tomorrow would be soon enough. I’d step away then. Free her to be with someone more emotionally available. Free her to pursue her career.
Tonight though, I hugged her as close to me as I could.
I would help her accomplish her dreams, no matter what. I would make her path easier, make her family’s lives easier. She would never have to fight so hard just to survive again.
I would be the one to have to fight if I was going to survive what I would have to do in the morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cherry
It was the rich scent of fresh coffee that roused me.
My groggy, sex-sore body resisted movement, and I groaned.
Then my head popped up as I remember the events of last night. Caleb’s sister, Lillie.
It had been amazing, seeing her appear in front of that car. I’d never seen Caleb so alive.
Then so dead inside when she’d disappeared again. Like something inside him had flown off with her.
I dragged myself out of bed, and at the sound of the shower went straight to the coffee pot. I’d drained my first cup and was about to pour another when Caleb walked in.
“I’ll drop you at the gym on my way to the office. You have a change of clothes there, I assume?”
His cold tone had my insides seizing up, my lungs turning into boulders. He’d done an about-face. The man standing in front of me was the cold bastard who made multimillion-dollar deals without blinking an eyelash. I’d seen this Caleb before, and I’d been hoping to never see him again.
I knew I should’ve had a thousand retorts, but the detached gaze that drifted down my body as he buttoned his shirt sleeve had tears pricking, and it took all
my concentration to keep them in.
“Yeah.” I lifted my chin. “Everything I need is at the gym.”
He met my gaze but only briefly, and the sick feeling in my stomach only grew. “You can get a shower if you want.”
The thought of surrounding myself with the scents of his shower nearly brought me to my knees. “I can shower at the gym.”
I pulled the brush out of my purse and made my hair half presentable as I went to the door. Used a makeup wipe to remove the old makeup and grimy sleepiness from my face in the shiny wall of the elevator. And gloried in the fact that Caleb watched me out of the corner of his eye. I smoothed my shirt over my breasts, running my hands past my hips for good measure, and his torture.
He dropped me off at the gym and I said, “Goodbye,” as if he were an Uber driver. And when I heard the car door open and heard him call my name, I kept on going, not looking back.
The way I saw it, if he wanted to behave like a block of ice just chipped off the Antarctic, that was his business. I didn’t have the energy to immerse myself in his personal tragedy, especially when his sister was an adult in charge of her own decisions.
I had five other people to worry about, and I considered myself lucky I hadn’t slipped down the tunnel of love so far that I couldn’t pull myself back out.
And I did pull myself back out. By beating the shit out of a punching bag, and doing thrusts extra high, and bloodying the nose of my sparring partner. Though I was a little ashamed about that.
***
Days bled into weeks with me pulverizing things as my cracked open heart fractured further before it collapsed in on itself. I withdrew into preparation for whatever fight would be next. Going to training, training harder than ever, then going home to the only comfort I could find.
Even then, the pinpricks of misery were sharp.
Tonight was movie night. A distraction I was thankful for, even though Honey was making my eardrums bleed with her high squealing pleads.
“Fox and the Hound!” she repeated over and over, coming up on her toes and howling the last part like she was the actual hound she was squalling about. When she saw Sage sitting on the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn, she whined, “Hey, why do you get to hold all the popcorn?”
