Diamond Soldiers

by Pinki Parks

  “You are an animal and this is exactly how I envisioned this happening. Don’t stop now when we have barely scratched the surface. Oh God, yes!” She was feeding my male ego.

  I was drawing inspiration from how her body was responding. She was turning up the heat to an almost unbearable amount. She had the magic touch and the feel of her rhythmically pulsing along my length was too much for any man.

  “You know exactly how to make me hot for your body. You’re what a woman really wants and is afraid to ask for it.” Her words were firing me on all cylinders.

  The way that she was holding me tightly in the glove of her sex was bringing me to the end of my rope.

  “Gillian…Gillian…I’ve always wondered what this moment would be… LIKE.” We both came and I was left unable to speak or say anything at all. My sexual reserve was drained.

  She collapsed into my arms unconscious with a smile on her face. I carried her body to the bed and carefully tucked her back in. I made a cursory check around the room for any sign of the ring to no avail. The energy I had exerted was returning slowly. I waited until I felt it was safe to leave the room with her sleeping soundly like an angel.

  Chapter 11

  Gillian

  I woke up in the morning feeling rejuvenated like my body had gotten a jump-start from a pair of booster cables. I stretched and muscles I had not used in quite some time were feeling the burn. The dream was extremely explicit.

  I had done what I had always wanted to do for a long time. It was fulfilling and sensual, but I had no idea why my thighs felt like I’d gone the distance with a man with the kind of stamina to get me to the finish line.

  I flung the sheets off of me and I got up on my unsteady feet to make my way to the bathroom. The warm floors were courtesy of the Hamilton family name and what money could buy. I’d never had heated floors, but I could see how somebody would never want to be without them.

  The window was steamed up in the shower and I moved my hand across the glass to see a thin layer of snow falling from the sky. It was enough to weigh down the trees and give it the holiday feel.

  The staff had begun decorating and there was no real tradition to speak of for a good old-fashioned Hamilton Christmas. I was determined to introduce them to some of my old favorites including hanging the stockings by the fireplace.

  I let the water scorch my skin until I was turning red. It was really the only way I knew how to get the chill out of my bones. I remembered something my mother did when we didn’t have the kind of revenue coming in that the Hamilton family had annually. She had a hair dryer and stuck it underneath my sheets before going to bed.

  I went over to the window after covering my nudity with a fluffy white robe found hanging behind the door. It made me feel safe and secure. I could easily find myself reading a good book by the fire with my feet curled in underneath me in the Lotus position.

  It was a Saturday and there were still a couple of weeks before the big day. A fat man would come down everybody’s chimneys with toys and presents for all the good little boys and girls. I never did have kids to pass on nuggets of Christmas tradition to them.

  There was something about the window that seemed off. It looked like the impression of a woman’s boobs pressed into the glass. The steam from the bathroom had even brought to life the fingerprints of somebody. I placed my hand over those handprints and they were an exact match.

  I stood back and could see the last part of my wet dream playing out in front of my eyes. I was going to have to ask about those pills. I did sleep like a newborn baby in the manger, but the side effects made me a sleeping zombie acting out my wildest of fantasies.

  I didn’t bother getting dressed and it was still early in the morning. It took a moment for me to get downstairs following the smell of freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen.

  “It’s good to see you up and about. I’m the only one up at this hour. This is the sweet spot before this place turns into a madhouse of activity. We have about ½ hour before the staff begin to make their presence known. I do think you have some explaining to do.” I was little worried that what I had gotten into last night had verbally exposed my hungry desire for Dalton.

  “I went to bed early and I don’t remember much of anything until I woke up in the morning. I hate to make this confession, but I had to use medicinal means to get to sleep. The chef was courteous to let me borrow one of his sleeping pills.” I wasn’t going to say anything unless I was called on the carpet for my behavior.

  “One of the security guards reported seeing you looking a little pleased with yourself up against the glass. You probably made his night. I would appreciate a little discretion. The pill does explain what happened, but you should have asked me. I could easily have the doctor stop by and prescribe you something less likely to cause you to act out in unpredictable ways.” He didn’t seem angry and more amused than anything else.

  “I certainly didn’t set out to embarrass you.” He handed me a cup of coffee in a black mug. The caffeine aroma was an intoxicating blend of something hand blended for the Hamilton family.

  “Don’t let it happen again.” His tone made it sound like he was giving me three strikes and I had already used one of them.

  “I barely remember anything other than a few lucid dreams. I could probably tell you what they were about, but I seem to remember only fragments of what actually happened." I had no interest in telling him how I had lived the fantasy of being with Dalton.

  Grant looked like he rolled out of bed looking like the cover of a GQ magazine. He was freshly shaven and his suit was perfectly pressed for a day at the office. It didn’t look like there was any rest for the wicked.

  “I would lay off on watching horror movies and eating chocolate before bed. I will have the doctor prescribe you something a little less likely to make you do something that would put a smile on the security guards face. I have to go into town for a meeting at a hotel. I would very much like for you to accompany me. There doesn’t seem to be anytime like the present to get used to our new arrangement.” He drank the rest of his cup and turned to me in expectation of me doing the same thing.

  It had cooled significantly, but my fingertips were happy to have the warmth. Somehow he knew exactly how I liked my coffee and I had to believe he was fishing for something to make me feel more comfortable by going to my family for childhood secrets.” I wasn’t that surprised to see that his parents had decided to sleep a little later in separate rooms on the other side of the house.

  “I would like to know what you want me to do in this situation. Do I sit there and look pretty or am I encouraged to say something during this meeting you are having? I would like to think that I could contribute something.” He couldn’t expect me to paint a smile on my face and socially accept my new role in service of his higher calling.

  “I have prepared a dossier on the two men who are going to be meeting with me. I took the liberty of having a copy made for you. I want you to be fully aware and understand how important it is to know your adversaries.” He was playing the same game his father did back in the day.

  He was less subtle about his overtures in the criminal underground. He made it look like a legitimate venture in the eyes of the authorities.

  “I appreciate how you want my input. You could have easily led me around by the nose. It isn’t like I could do much about it. I have to know if you feel good about playing with my life. It’s quite apparent you take your marching orders from how your father would do business.” I went to the farm style sink and washed the cups before putting them away in their respective places in the cupboard.

  “I would rather have you working with me than against me. It’s counterproductive to keep you on a short leash. I know your skills. Your attention to detail is something that is going to make my work a lot easier. I don’t hide talent especially when they can do something for me in the trenches.” He wasn’t messing around and the very idea of making his
life better was not an easy thing to swallow.

  “You lived under the roof of parents who didn’t love each other. I would like permission to incorporate some of my family values into this Christmas. I’m not suggesting anything ostentatious for your taste. There will be no extravagant display of lights outside. Everything the staff has done up to this point is fine, but there’s no real emotion behind it.” I grabbed a blueberry muffin from the fridge and that was going to substitute for my breakfast.

  “I will have to talk it over with my parents, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t bend a little. I have some last minute details to go over, but then I will need you to meet me at the front door where the car will be waiting for us.” He really did have a political ear and a polished style classic for a man of his standing within the community.

  “I will find something tasteful to wear in the wardrobe you have furnished me with. I’m sure you will want something to distract them from what you’re doing behind their back. It is somewhat exciting to play this part. It makes me forget about what happened when I was stationed in Guam.” Dalton’s death still weighed heavily on me physically and emotionally.

  “You can say whatever you want about that in here, but outside you need to refrain from making any mention of your time over there. You can say something in passing, but don’t get into any details. I don’t even mind if you bring up how you saved the child from drowning. It’s a good way to garner their respect.” I was under his control, but he was fortunate not to push it too far.

  Some people would have taken great pleasure from using the information against me. He was attempting to make it sound like a means to an end. He probably would have turned out differently, but his parents didn’t even give him a chance to live a little. It was mostly his father dominating and holding him to a higher standard with the family legacy on his shoulders.

  I went into my bedroom and was easily able to find a white flowing dress. It was nothing like the dress I was going to wear for a spectacle of hundreds of people in attendance. One more week and I would start my new life with hesitation in my heart.

  Chapter 12

  Dalton

  “I knew you were there and I made sure the staff didn’t get close enough to hear your declarations of love and affection for one another. I have to say I was impressed. I honestly didn’t think that you could get out of your own way to admit your feelings for her.” Jackson had gone out for something to eat against our orders to the contrary leaving her to lambaste me for getting too close to Gillian.

  “I should know better than to try to get anything over on you. I couldn’t risk losing the ring. I got a little anxious and couldn’t wait to have it in my hand again. I got there and she caught me, but didn’t call for help.” I was feeling like a new man and there was something dead inside me which Gillian had reanimated.

  “I told you that I would find it, but I had to wait for the right time to get inside to have a look around. I’m the new girl and the others still treat me like I don’t belong. You almost blew it, but I heard her explaining to Grant what happened.” I had suspected that she was under some kind of influence.

  I was hoping for the Christmas miracle of her unable to control herself when she found I was alive. It was wishful thinking and I had a feeling she wasn’t going to be that amenable when we came face to face.

  I wasn’t prepared for her reaction and I was looking for a clean getaway to a tropical setting of my choosing. Nothing was more upsetting than taking the control out of my hands. I still didn’t find what I was looking for, but I found something else more important.

  I couldn’t quite explain how I was feeling, but I knew I was going through a bad case of withdrawals. I wanted her there with me, but I couldn’t possibly be expected to keep silent and do nothing about the heat between us.

  “I’m guessing from how she responded from seeing me that it wasn’t a rush of unbridled emotions. The way that she was talking was indicative of somebody who was seeing their version of pink elephants.” It was the most profound moment of my life and I was feeling guilty for taking advantage of her in her diminished mental capacity.

  “She was on a sedative given to her by the chef. It was apparently very strong and had the capability of making a person see things that weren’t there.” She had manifested a vision of me and was positive she could do anything without having to answer for her actions.

  “I feel like such an idiot. I knew in the back of my head it wasn’t possible for her to act like she did. I don’t ever want her to know my dirty little secret. I will deny any wrongdoing. I have been very good at telling people what they want to hear.” What I had done was only a sample of what I could do.

  I couldn’t even bring to mind other deviant acts currently brought to life in my head. It wasn’t fair to yearn for something out of my reach. To be that intimate was giving me a new understanding of how I had let an opportunity slip through my fingers to get to know her. I could shoot with the best of them, but a woman was still a mystery yet to be solved.

  They were conniving and jealous always worried I was going to find something better in another woman’s arms. I lost several relationships with women who couldn’t trust me to be out with the boys late at night. Some men showed their true colors, I’d seen several of them fall from the fidelity wagon. I wasn’t one of them.

  “I would say this experience is one you’re not going to repeat any time soon. I’m putting my foot down. There’s no way you’re going back in there no matter how much you want to.” I didn’t like being given an ultimatum. I was about to tell her she wasn’t my mother and thankfully, something stopped me before making her become unglued.

  I heard somebody coming upstairs. I instinctively grabbed my gun when Jackson came flying inside out of breath and looking like the hounds of hell were on his tail.

  “I was listening in on the radio and they have gotten word about her engagement in the newspaper of all places. They don’t need anybody to tell them she’s here. Her fiancé is making a huge deal and he’s not sparing any expense. The wedding is keeping them from getting closer. I don’t know why, but I sense there’s more to this wedding than undying love. It feels like a maneuver to keep people from looking any closer at their relationship than the vows they’re going to say to one another at the altar.” I could tell there was more on his mind, but he was trying to find his second wind before continuing.

  “We could find out anything we want to know with Granger’s help. The one thing missing from all of this is his technological know how. He was a master manipulator on the keyboard and anything that was considered plugged in. He has never shied away from the opportunity to show us up in front of everybody else. I can only hope he’s lying low until the dust settles.” Granger was someone we counted on and he had disappeared without a trace.

  “I’m no slouch when it comes to being computer savvy. I may not be in Granger’s league, but I can hold my own. We did manage to tap into the Security System without Granger’s help. I’m sure he would have gone to the trouble of getting audio, but we can’t afford someone finding a little bug during one of their sweeps.” Melanie was becoming a force to be reckoned with. We didn’t need Granger. We could muddle through the best way we knew how.

  A security company came in once a day to go over anything that remotely had a radio signal coming from inside the rooms of the house.

  “That’s all semantics. I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation. They know where she’s at and they are coming for her. They aren’t going to wait for the wedding. They know when she gets into the church there’s virtually no way they will be able to get to her.” I was hoping for more time, but time was a commodity we didn’t have much of.

  “They won’t be able to get close with the security around them. If I were to put myself in their shoes, I would use something personal to make it necessary for her to leave the comfort and protection of the Hamilton family. I wouldn’t do th
is, but others have been known to use family members to lure their prey out of hiding.” I’d seen it too many times and amazingly, it worked practically every time the tactic was used.

  “You just answered your own question.” Jackson went on to tell us they were going to make it sound like an emergency and use the love she had for her family and friends against her.

  “They have a plan to snatch her up before the wedding. We need to know everything they are doing and how to circumvent it from happening without alerting them to our arrival in this town.” They probably knew something was up when the man they had sent in as a scout didn’t come back to report his findings.

  “I don’t know what the two of you have gotten me into, but I’m tempted to walk away into the proverbial sunset. We both know I’m too stubborn and adventure driven to let the two of you have all the fun. Knowing you, you already have an idea of keeping her on our radar.” I had slipped a tracker on her favorite jacket. It was undetectable unless she was to walk through a metal detector of some sort.

  “There’s no reason to get your feathers ruffled, Jackson. We’re not going to let anything happen to Gillian. She was always the voice of reason. We couldn’t do anything without her sticking her two-sense in. That girl is a piece of work, but she is our family. Every family has a black sheep and I consider her someone who doesn’t fit in with the rest of us.” Melanie was a woman who knew a class act when she saw her.

  “You haven’t heard the best part. Whatever they are planning is going to happen within 24-hours.” I had noticed Gillian was leaving with her new husband to be.

  The umbrella of her safety was dramatically at risk. They had everything covered at the estate, but outside the gates, she was fair game for whatever predator was waiting to jump out of the darkness.

  “We need to initiate plan C. You probably think this is what I want, but it’s not. There’s no way we can let them get their hands on her long enough to extract information from her. It means we’re going to have to do something risky. For obvious reasons, I can’t be there during this exercise. I’m counting on you two to step up when it matters.” Somewhere along the way, they were going to get ambushed like lambs to the slaughter.