Hunted

by Lourdes Skye

  “What made you move here? No, let me guess. You’re—trying to be an actor. A model.”

  Jace’s breath caught and his face turned beet red.

  “Whoa-you okay?” Cobra pat his back as he gasped, taking in air.

  “Yeah, yeah. I think the air hit me suddenly. I-I just had to catch my breath.”

  “You cold. I have a jacket in the back.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  The ride over to the park was basically in silence. However, once Jace saw the carriages, he was like a kid in a candy store. Cobra loved his enthusiasm. As they climbed into the carriage, Jace’s cheeks were with wonder. It was such a romantic setting. The white horse was dressed in royal attire as was the driver. The carriage itself was like something out of a fairy tale. As they rode along the concrete ground and took in the lush greenery around them, Cobra took hold of Jace’s hand. Their fingers were laced. As the carriage rounded a bend, it stopped near a cluster of rose bushes. Climbing down from the carriage, Cobra walked over to a bush and gathered a few roses. Climbing back up, he motioned for the driver to continue.

  With his index finger, Cobra caressed the side of Jace’s cheek as he handed him the roses.

  “T-These are beautiful,” Jace whispered. His mind flashed back to the last time that he received flowers. It had been after one of the times that Octorian had beat him unconscious. Jace wanted to cut his hair into a stylish design. He wanted to try a new look. Octorian accused him of trying to get dolled up to meet some man and flew into a rage. Vince, the security guy was left to play nurse, seeing as how Octorian didn’t want to chance taking him to a hospital and the doctors ask questions. Once he regained conscious and the swelling and black eye began to recede, Octorian was awash with apologizes and gifts. Flowers were non-stop.

  Immediately Cobra noticed the pained far-a-way look in Jace eyes. He’d seen this before, in victims of abuse.

  “Jace, cutie, you okay?”

  “I-yeah, I’m good.”

  “Do you…not like roses?”

  “Oh no, I think they’re beautiful. Thank you so much for these.”

  Cobra took hold of his chin gently and turned his face up towards his. “I want to kiss you.” Without further ado, Cobra’s lips claimed Jace’s. As their tongues entwined, Cobra pulled him onto his lap. His hands roamed the length of Jace’s back, taking hold of the nape of his neck and pulling him closer. As Cobra’s tongue left his mouth, trailing wet licks and kisses down his cheek and neck, Jace pulled away. He scrambled off of his lap and looked out onto the scenery that they passed.

  “Did I do something wrong Jace?”

  A lone tear slide down his cheek.

  Startled by the unexpected tears, Cobra took hold of his chin and forced him to face him. “Cutie, what’s wrong?”

  “I-I can’t kiss you anymore.”

  Wow, he hadn’t expected that.

  “Why not?”

  Jace turned his entire body towards him. “Because I’m married.”

  Married, that word was like the ice bucket challenge being dumped on him.

  “Uh, care to elaborate.”

  Jace sighed, “I didn’t plan this. I didn’t want to meet anyone and be attracted to them.”

  He realized Jace was babbling but sat still, letting him run the show.

  “I-my name is Jace Vanderhuff. I’m married to Octorian Vanderhuff.”

  Wait a minute, Vanderhuff, he remembered seeing that name up on the Missing Persons bulletin at the precinct.

  “Anyway, shortly after we married, he changed. He would snap and come at me in rages. The first real beating, he took me to the emergency room and told the doctor that I fell down the winding staircase at the house. The doctor didn’t believe him and I heard he had the guy investigated and had his license to practice medicine removed. The doctor was going to report the abuse to the police. After that, he never allowed me to go to the hospital again. I had to heal at the house with only the security guards to play nursemaid. The last time—I knew I had to get out of there before he killed me. So I divulged a plan to escape. I had some money saved from my modeling days. I would go to the bank one day a week when I was supposed to be at the spa and withdraw a small amount. I kept a locker at the train station with a backpack that I stored the money in. When the night of the big banquet came, I put my plan into motion. I told him I had to use the bathroom and hauled ass. I took a bus to the train station, changed clothing and then took a train to Virginia and from there, a plane here. I live in a constant state of fear that he’ll find me.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Cobra roared.

  Jace flinched.

  Seeing the reaction, Cobra pulled Jace into his arms. “Baby I would never hurt you. I’m not like that. I don’t get off hurting people smaller than me and certainly nobody-special to me.” He pulled back a little. “You said that you used to model?”

  “Yes. I was an underwear model for a few years before I met Octorian. I had just reached popularity when I met Octorian. I should have been more aware. I was so naïve thinking that I’d met the love of my life. I fell for his shit, hook, line and sinker.”

  “Jace look at me. Some people are slick that way. Especially abusers. You can’t blame yourself. I have seen all kinds in my line of work. They’re predators. Abusers look for a certain type of person. They know who they will victimize nearly from the moment they see them.”

  “So you’re saying that I’m victimize-able?”

  “No, but you are young. How old are you?”

  “Twenty three. I started modeling when I was seventeen. I met and married Octorian at nineteen.”

  “See. He saw a young beautiful man and wooed you. Can I ask, how old is he?”

  “Thirty eight.”

  “Fucking abusive asshole pervert.”

  “God I just want this to be over. I knew once we started kissing and everything that I couldn’t let it go any further without telling you the truth. I’m so tired of being afraid but I don’t know what to do. I thought about divorce but if I did that, then when they serve him, he’ll know where I’m at.”

  “I have to ask you something and I don’t mean to offend,” Cobra spoke staring Jace directly into his eyes.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you really want a divorce?”

  “Of course,” the beautiful blond said without hesitation.

  At that moment the carriage pulled back into the station where it picked them up at. “Tour’s over!” the driver announced. “Have a good day folks. Oh and young man, from what I heard, I hope everything turns out well for you.”

  “Thanks,” Jace smiled.

  “Well I guess that proves an old rumor.”

  “What?”

  “That the cabbies and carriage drivers do listen to your conversations.” He and Jace laughed as they walked back to the truck.

  During the ride, Jace stared out of the passenger window and watched the tall buildings pass by. He noticed that they were now in the Tribeca area of Manhattan. The ride was in total silence. He was beginning to become uneasy. Maybe Cobra didn’t see him the same way now that he knew the truth.

  Cobra glanced at him. He was being awfully quiet. He wondered if he regretted telling him the truth. Reaching over, he laced his fingers with Jace’s. Jace turned and looked at him.

  “Are you disgusted by what I told you?” Jace finally choked out.

  “No cutie, I’m not. I’m glad you told me.”

  Turning onto Vesey Street, Cobra turned into an underground parking lot of a residential condominium. “Where are we?”

  “My place. We’ll order something to eat and talk.”

  Jace wasn’t new to luxury. Of late, his living situation left much to be desired. Upon walking inside the unit, they stepped down into a sunk-in living room. The furniture was of modern design, black leather couches, glass end tables and a Mosaic tiled floor to ceiling electric fireplace. A large wall mounted television was on one wall while modern urban art decorated the oth
er walls.

  “Come in, sit down and get comfortable. Want something to drink?”

  “What do you have?”

  “Water, soda, beer.”

  “Water is fine.”

  Cobra stepped into the galley style kitchen, opened the stainless steel fridge and grabbed a bottle of Dasani water. He handed it to Jace en-route to the bedroom. A few minutes later he emerged shirtless, with the cordless phone in his hand. “What do you feel like eating?”

  First his tongue had to come unglued. Wow, Cobra’s chest was…mesmerizing. His stomach alone was nicely toned and cut and oh god…he had a six pack that was magazine worthy.

  “Uh-what did you have in mind?”

  “Our choices are Chinese, Italian, Greek or pizza.”

  “Italian sounds good.”

  Cobra grabbed the menu from the kitchen and handed it to Jace. After they’d ordered their food, they sat on the couch facing each other.

  “Jace, what are your plans? You can’t hide forever and as you said, you already believe he’s hunting you.” Cobra took hold of his hand. “Now baby, I’m not trying to scare you but in my line of work, folks who have money, have the means to get things done. If your husband is hunting you, he’ll find you.”

  Jace swallowed hard, fear evident in his eyes. “I-I don’t know. I really didn’t have any plans other than getting out of Georgia. Like I said, I’d love to divorce him.”

  “There’s something between us Jace.”

  Looking into Cobra eyes, Jace nodded.

  “But we’re going to take this slow, get to know each other. First thing first, we need to get you an emergency order of protection. Though it’s the weekend, I think I may be able to contact a judge and get it done. Also, in all good conscious, I don’t feel right about letting you go back to your place. If my guts serve me right, then I bet your husband has hired someone to search for you. It’s what I’d do if I were in his position. You can stay here. I have two bedrooms. This place isn’t connected to you in any way so if someone is out looking for you, I doubt they’d track you here. Also the building has 24 hour security. So when I’m not here, I want you to feel safe. Your job isn’t too bad. I doubt anyone will try anything funny in a place as well packed as the bar is.”

  “How will I get from work here and back?”

  “Do you have a license?”

  “Yes but in my own name and it’s a Georgia license.”

  “That’s good enough. I’ll get the order of protection started tomorrow. I have an Audi in the garage, you can drive that.”

  “But-like you said, what if he’s hired someone and they follow me here. If you’re at work, what’ll I do?”

  “Mm, I hadn’t thought of that. Okay, how about this, how about I get you a police escort every night you work from the bar here?”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yeah, us cops, we kinda watch out for each other.”

  Jace face brightened. “If I’m going to be driving your car, I’ll have to update my license within 45 days. I’m sure that Octorian will be able to track me once that happens. So I was thinking, I might as well have him served with divorce papers.”

  “If that’s what you really want to do, you can use your apartment’s address to have them served.”

  “It’s what I want.”

  Their eyes met and held. Just as they leaned in for a kiss, the doorbell rang. “Food’s here,” they said in union and laughed.

  They talked all through their meal, then Cobra turned on the television and cued up his movie list. “See anything that looks interesting?”

  Jace scanned the list. His eyes stopped at Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He had wanted to see this movie but Octorian forbid it. He claimed that the apes would be naked and Jace would probably be looking at the parts.

  “I really wanted to see the new planet of the ape’s movie,” Jace voiced.

  “Cool, I’ll cue it up and pop some popcorn. Why don’t you get comfortable.”

  Jace kicked off his sneakers and socks and curled up on the couch. A few minutes later, Cobra returned with the bowl of popcorn and an afghan. He placed the bowl on the end table and sat down. Jace climbed up between Cobra’s legs and settled his back against his chest. Cobra draped the afghan over them both.

  Prynce waited until he got back to the hotel. He showered and ordered food. Once he was propped up on the bed, remote in hand, he called Octorian.

  “Well, have you found him?!” Octorian demanded no sooner he answered the phone.

  “Actually, I have. Well, I haven’t had a visual but I did find out where he works.”

  “How can you be sure it’s him if you didn’t see him?”

  “Because, the person who led me to his job, gave me visual confirmation that it was him.”

  “Fine, where’s this job?”

  “It’s a sports and grill bar called The Silver Bullet.”

  “I bet the place is full of fucking men,” Octorian growled.

  “What was that?” Prynce asked, not sure of what Octorian said.

  “Never mind. Look, I need a visual from your eyes.”

  “Well the place was closed when I went. I’ll be there the hour that it opens tomorrow and sit all day if I have to.”

  “Fine. Don’t call me again unless you know for a fact that it is Jace.” With that he hung up.

  9

  Cobra shifted. A slight weight kept him from turning onto his side. His arm snaked around a thin waist and his eyes snapped open. Immediately, a mop of blond hair assaulted him. Jace moved, his butt brushing against Cobra’s crotch. He wiggled a little, settled, then returned to sleep.

  Great, Cobra sighed, now he had a raging hard on that would require some attention. Gently he maneuvered himself from under Jace. Now standing, he stretched. Jace looked like an angel deep in slumber curled up on the couch. Cobra scooped him up and carried him to the guest room. Laying him down on the bed, he placed the blanket over his torso, bent and kissed his lips gently. “Good night.”

  After cleaning up the living room, Cobra retired to his room for a much needed shower. Stripping off his jeans and boxers, he entered the glass shower, which was big enough to fit five people comfortably. Damn, the water felt good cascading over his muscles. The only thing that would make this phenomenal, would be if Jace was in here with him. Taking hold of his throbbing cock, he envisioned Jace on his knees blessing his dick. Those sensual lips wrapped around his cock, his head bobbing up and down as he sucked him. Cobra’s hand worked his length, as he imagined Jace taking him deep. He’d love to hear Jace gagging on his dick as throat cum erupted, allowing him to go even deeper. He wanted to feel Jace’s throat pumping his cock. The thought alone, had him shooting spunk on the shower tiles as he groaned out Jace’s name.

  No sooner than he cleaned up and slipped on a pair of basketball shorts, his phone rung. “What’s up Barn?”

  “Another girl’s been taken tonight. An hour ago. Chief is livid that we do something fast to bring this case to an end.”

  “Shit!”

  “You said it.”

  “Did you tell him that we have a lead?”

  “No. I figured no sense in bringing that up until after you talk to Spike. I don’t want to excite the old man and this doesn’t pan out. I like my balls where they are, thank you.”

  Cobra chuckled.

  “On another note, how’s your date going?”

  “Everything’s good. Jace is going to be staying here for a while.”

  There was a moment of silence. “Damn, it was that good you moved him in.”

  “You’re such a perv, man. Nothing happened, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

  “Look, I can dig into my Cd box. I got that old R. Kelly cd, 12 Play. That‘ll help get a little bump n’ grind going on if you’ve forgotten how. I mean, I know it’s been like a century since the last time you got laid.”

  “You got jokes, I see.”

  “Hey, I’m your partner. Just trying to
help you out.”

  “Sure, then why do I hear you laughing your ass off through the phone. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Thirty minutes later, Cobra’s eyes snapped open as dreadful bawling filtered throughout the condo. Heart racing, Cobra ran into the guest room. Jace was twisted up in the covers, tossing and turning and crying out. “No, please, don’t—please stop!”

  “Jace, baby, open your eyes. You’re dreaming,” Cobra shook him. Whatever nightmare he was caught in, had him under deep. “Jace!”

  Finally the crying stopped. Jace’s lovely grey eyes opened as he looked around the room wildly. “Cob-Cobra.”

  “Yeah baby, I’m right here.”

  Jace threw his arms around his neck and held on tight. “It was awful.”

  As Cobra gently stroked his back, he whispered, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Jace shook his head, no.

  “Okay, but you’re soaked. You need to take a shower and get out of these clothes.”

  He nodded.

  Cobra could tell that whatever Jace was dreaming about must’ve been hellish. He wouldn’t push him to talk about it. He just hoped he’d come to him on his own.

  Cobra picked him up and carried him into his room. The master-bath had the best shower and a jet tub. “Would you like a shower or bath?”

  Jace looked at the jet tub. “A bath.”

  Jace peeled his sweaty shirt off while Cobra turned on the tub. Upon turning back to Jace, his breath caught in his throat. It wasn’t the first time that Cobra had seen his naked chest. However, it was the first time that he’d seen him open his jeans and slowly peel them down his thighs. Oh geez, Jace was a man’s fantasy. Smooth creamy skin with just the hint of muscle tone. So far, Cobra had yet to get of glimpse of hair anywhere on his body other than his head. He licked his lips at the bulge in those skimpy briefs Jace had on. They too, gave no indication of a blonde treasure trail. Cobra’s eyes traveled up his stomach, over his chest to those amazing eyes. Eyes that now bled lust in its rarest form.

  Oh shit.

  Cobra’s dick hardened to almost the point of pain.

  As the water bubbled, Jace climbed in and held out his hand. “Are you coming in?”