“Do you think you’ll be home tonight?” Her voice shook as she added, “Your step-father's not here tonight.”
“Mom, I’ll see you in a little while,” he said, lying through his teeth. “You go back to bed, and if you’re awake we’ll talk when I get home.” No, Anbesi had informed him via text that they had bigger plans for tomorrow.
CHAPTER 33
It was well into early morning and they had searched everywhere Travis knew to check. There wasn’t any sign of Dennis. Travis bit back a groan of frustration. He had even called some of his friends on the force. Nothing. The last call he made was to Captain Harris.
The deadline the captain had given him would be up in a few short hours. Knowing he had no choice, he called Captain Harris and gave him a quick rundown, ending with a promise to have concrete evidence soon.
Travis pulled off the road at an empty gas station and looked over at Fallon smothering a yawn as he ended the call.
“Since we haven’t found Dennis and it’s only getting later, how about I take you home and we pick this up tomorrow? It’s already two o’clock.”
She covered another yawn, and he’d have to be deaf not to hear the wariness in her voice as she said, “That sounds good to me right now. I haven’t been sleeping well lately. If I need to fight, I want to be rested.”
Travis drove back to her home with a lot on his mind and Fallon half-asleep in the passenger’s seat. He shook her gently after he put the truck into ‘park’ outside her home.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Here’s the thing, Fallon. I want you again with every fiber of my being. We haven’t known each other long and with everything that has happened between us you trusted me enough to see you through a pretty big change. In my book, that makes you mine, and I will do everything in my power to get you to see that. I’m also going to give you the time to think about where you want this to go from here. Be clear that after tonight, if it’s me, I’m never letting you go again.”
As she stepped from the truck without answering, Travis knew by the lost look on her expressive face she hadn’t expected that.
She remained silent as he accompanied her to her front door. He’d gone all the way back to his truck with only a simple goodnight between them. At the driver’s side door, he hesitated. Then his determined stride carried him to Fallon and he embraced her.
Taken off guard, Fallon kissed him with untrained abandoned and was panting when they came up for air. Resting his forehead lightly against hers, he said, “We have one more option concerning Dennis. I hope you brought a nice dress to wear to church. If what you surmised earlier about large crowds is true, we happen to be in luck since tomorrow is Sunday, and most of this community attends.”
She licked her kiss-darkened lips. “Sounds like a plan.”
Was that a hint of disappointment in her eyes that he’d talked shop instead of kissing her again?
“I’ll be by to pick you up about nine,” he said. “Be ready.”
Fallon watched Travis leave and exhaled a deep sigh of regret. The further the trucks taillights faded into the predawn hour, the need to call him back troubled her. She might not want babies, but wanting him was different. She hadn’t even said good-bye. Instead, she’d just stood there with her lips still tingling from his kiss. Dragging her feet inside, she shut the door behind her. Putting one foot in front of the other, she slowly made her way upstairs, marveling at how fast things had progressed since he’d first arrived on her doorstep.
Entering her bedroom, the first thing she saw was the large bed and rumpled sheets. The dark stain on Egyptian cotton signified a momentous change in her life. Her dreams were just a fantasy compared to the actual thing. They all had been an introduction to the main event. However, she never considered what came afterward. The act itself, beautiful, more intense than she’d ever dreamed. Dealing with the emotions behind it was another thing.
Tuning away from the bed and going into the bathroom, she stared into the mirror. “I still look the same,” she said, trying to convince her carbon copy behind glass, “but I’m not.” After several minutes of serious consideration, she realized she’d come in here to hide. She went back into the bedroom and dressed in her nightclothes, then changed everything on the bed except for his pillowcase.
Crawling under the covers, she hugged the pillow close and wrapped her arms around the billowy softness, burying her face into it just to take in Travis’s scent. Fool, you could have the actual man beside you instead of this damn pillow if you weren’t so stubborn.
Taking Erick’s keys, Dennis drove and parked his friend’s vehicle down the road from Fallon’s place. He snuck through a forest of trees fencing in the property.
“Fallon should be home and asleep by now. After the way she ran out on me, we have some unfinished business,” he said, stoking his ego.
Moonlight could not break through the barrier of trees. Unhampering his progress, he moved at a steady clip. Eagerness swelled his member. The bitch would soon be cowering in fright once she beheld his awesome wings. Nocturnal scavengers scurried through the woods, recognizing the danger he posed. Nearing the edge of the tree line, an electric fence securing the property wasn’t even a deterrent.
Emerging from the dark interior and flora, Dennis arrived in time to see Travis’s truck leave. “What the fuck is he doing here?” Fallon would pay if she slept with him. She was Rafael’s sister. It was his right to lay claim to her.
Searching the exterior of her home, light shown from a second-story window. Fallon’s shadowed outline grew visible. Excited about their time together, he made his way around to the front of the house, boldly stepping onto the porch. With his hand on the doorknob, he heard a truck, sounding exactly like Travis’s. Damn.
Dennis quickly headed around the side of the house, ashamed to be hiding in the bushes. He watched with hatred as Travis parked, then entered Fallon’s home as if he owned the place.
The bitch had even left the door unlocked for him. Dennis seethed over the thought. One way or another, he would find a way of taking care of Travis. He would have the bitch for himself.
CHAPTER 34
“Turn over onto your stomach and put your hands behind your back.”
Fallon woke to Travis’s voice coming from somewhere in her darkened bedroom.
She’d fallen asleep with her arms clutching a pillow and ache in the sensitive region between her legs. With thoughts of today’s events whirling through her mind, she smiled drowsily as his scent engulfed her and warmed her heart.
“I am not going to stand around like last time. I said, your hand behind your back. Now!” His voice sounded almost guttural and deeper than she remembered hearing it, and instincts ingrained over centuries warned her to be wary, but she didn’t listen. Turning over onto her stomach, she put arms behind her back. “Travis, what’s going on?”
“You have the right to remain silent,” he growled. “Anything you say at this point will be held against you. That is the only right you have. So if I were you, I’d remain silent. You will only talk when asked to."
Fallon heard the sounds of clothes sliding against skin behind her and had an insane sense of anticipation until the cold steel clamped on one wrist.
Then she felt the rough texture of a hand’s caress down the center of her back before the cold clamp of another cuff gripped her other wrist. Both hands then followed a trail starting at the sides of her breasts, down her waist, until both paused at the top of her boy shorts. As Travis slid aside the barrier shielding her pussy, an orgasmic rush of fluid coated her nether lips. The bed dipped again and Travis issued another command. “Get up on your knees.”
Fallon tried to distinguish Travis’s changing location through different nuances of sound bouncing off the darkness. Deep breaths ending in a whistle, the tick of her grandfa
ther clock, and the clink of metal as she tried to find a comfortable position became nuances of her increasing desire. As her face was forced into the bedding, Travis’s large hands lifted her around the waist, bringing her to her knees, ass high in the air. She felt more exposed than ever, abilities or not.
The bed dipped once more, and she was unable to control the shiver that ran the length of her body. What was he doing? She barely knew him and for him to put her in this kind of kinky situation made her a little uncomfortable. “Travis, you’re not supposed to be here. You said you would give me time.”
The intense glow brightening the room spoke volumes of Travis’s state of arousal, which heightened hers more.
Turning her head as much the awkward position allowed, she saw that his hands glowed with radiant luminescence. His large hands that gripped her ankles, nudging her to open for him. Exposing her, the thin straps of her cami broke easily, ripping the rest down the middle.
Leaning over her shoulder, he whispered in her ear, “I couldn’t stay away. You are a very dangerous woman, Fallon, and as I told you before leaving, you are mine. I only made it a couple miles before I realized I couldn’t leave behind what belongs to me. What I figure is missing from your accepting me is trust. For the first test in that area, you have passed and will find your reward shortly. You didn’t throw me out. You let me put the cuffs on you even when you have the ability to escape. That alone tells me everything to know.” Placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder, he eased backward. “Do you want to continue?”
She had a choice the first time. This time, not so much.
“Travis, I want to let you in, and I will admit this is a little scary, but if what you said is true, I’m willing to learn.”
What Fallon didn’t know was that this was a new experience for him, too. The years he hid himself from the world and never let anyone in or get close had him standing on his own precipice. Even so, to show Fallon any weakness would be a recipe for disaster.
Raising his palm, he brought it down on her cute bottom where a little blush appeared. “That was for earlier, when I told you had the right to remain silent, and you didn’t.” He smoothed his hand over the reddened area. “Now, are you ready for the reward I promised you?”
He spanked her again, and watched the sparks fly between her bottom and his hand. He didn’t think it would ever get old.
“If you don’t quit teasing me and finish it now,” Fallon said breathlessly, “these cuffs will be the least of your problems.”
He grinned as his hand connected again and thunder boomed overhead, even though the storm had long since passed. Fallon’s body arched toward him, and she screamed in ecstasy. Lightning struck right beside the window and lit the room.
“This is your final warning,” she growled. “Let me out of these cuffs, or the next one singes the hairs on that cute ass of yours.”
Travis grabbed his jeans from the floor and removed the key. When he had the cuffs unlocked, he was devastated to see the red circles that wrapped around each wrist. Her straining must have rubbed the area raw. He wrapped his arms around her and gently pushed the hair off her face. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Fallon, are you all right, honey? I saw the marks on your wrist. It won’t happen again. Should I go get some ice? I never meant to hurt you. Please, baby, don’t cry. Let me make it right.”
She wept quietly, her shoulders shaking with each sob.
“Talk to me, Fallon.” He was starting to panic, desperate to understand what he’d done to break such a strong woman.
Fallon realized her emotions were spiraling all over the place. That was the first time she’d ever been able to call lightning without a storm present, or the need to commit mass murder.
She had to get herself under control. She smiled to herself, remembering the look on Travis’s face when he’d seen the bruises on her wrists. Even though she’d lost control there at the end, she did not completely decimate the house. She’d been able to control lightning’s power, and all because of what Travis had given her tonight. The presence she’d dealt with for so long now cowered in the recesses of her mind.
She wiped away the salty evidence of her weakness and she sat up. “Watch this.” Three bolts appeared and held steady for the count of ten, then disappeared. “That’s what the tears were for. Happy tears. Tears of relief. Somehow, you’ve given me control over my ability, the one thing I wanted most for so long.” She wrapped her arms around him and showed her gratitude with a deep kiss, which had him rising above her and taking them the rest of the way to ecstasy.
CHAPTER 35
“Do I really have to do this?” Fallon looked sulkily upon row upon rows of clothes for suitable attire to wear to church. Travis, dressed in his freshly washed clothes from last night, sat on the bed and watched her.
“I’m more than with you on finding Dennis, but what does a church have to do with any of that? Dennis is a young man. What makes you sure he’ll be in church, anyway?”
“It’s the only time a lot of people will congregate in one place until Farmers’ Day, which isn’t until the end of the week.”
“If you don’t hurry up, we’re going to be late.”
Donning a simple leather spaghetti strapped dress that fell around her ankles, Fallon studied her reflection, twisting, examining every unflattering angle in the mirror. Travis came over and grabbed her arm. He swung her around for a deep kiss and smacked her on the bottom.
“Now, let’s go. It’s already ten o’clock. If someone didn't look so delectable when I woke up, we would not be running late.” A new light entered his eyes and she suspected it had nothing to do with leaving.
She placed her hand on his ass and gave him a strong enough charge that she had him glowing and groaning in pleasure. Let him deal with that for a while. Swinging her hips out the door, she reasoned that it never does a woman any good to let the man get the upper hand at the beginning of any relationship.
Morning devotions were a time when all parishioners poured their bleeding and wounded hearts out.
Dennis heard his mother whispering. “Please help my son in whatever time of need he’s experiencing. Save his blessed soul.”
“It’s not my soul you have to be asking Him for,” he promised.
With his newfound powers, he couldn’t help imagining the parishioners filling the church worshiping him. The idyllic image evaporated instantly as the pastor’s voice echoed through the microphone.
“We have two newcomers. Come on in, my sister and brother in Christ.”
Dennis glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the couple walking in then coughed to hide his laughter. Officer Travis and Rafael’s sister would be here to witness his greatest hour. Hell, they would most likely be a part of it.
Dennis sat back and recalled Anebasi’s conversation about his coming-out platform. “Some of the greatest wars I’ve seen fought have been over religion. And your coronation deserves nothing less.”
At the time, her meaning was confusing. Now he understood. He turned back again and smiled at the woman with Travis.
After witnessing the special night between the two, he knew he wasn’t the only bad-ass in the room, and by all accounts, she had nothing on him.
Fallon’s chin grazed Travis’s shoulder as she whispered, “What are we going to do about Dennis?”
The church, filling with people he knew, troubled the shit out of him. Not one to attend church regularly, he was surprised at the many people who did come to fellowship. Looking into some of the curious and welcoming faces, he felt the weight of the whole community on his shoulders. He’d come to love many of the people present like family.
“Maybe now’s not the best time to do this. You said yourself you’re not sure what Dennis can do.” He saw his doubts reflected at him as he stared into her resolut
e eyes.
“I have a general idea of what he is capable of. It isn’t pretty.”
The next thing Travis knew, Fallon had sat down on the other side of the church. His loudly spoken, “Fallon, get back here,” went unheeded.
“Hey, Travis, is everything okay?” the man beside him asked with a frown.
Annoyed by the appreciation in the man’s eye over his woman’s departure, he let his possessive side out to do a little damage control, and claim what was rightfully his. “That right there is a prime example of a woman who’s going to do her own thing, no matter what her man says.”
He was stuck to his seat, helpless to do anything but trust her to know what she was doing. She sat three rows up in a row filled with families and not a spec of space for him beside her. She knew more about this situation than he did. However, he was quick to change his opinion on the heels of whiplashing double-take. Why was the fool woman rubbing her shoulder blades against the back of the pew?
“I really need you to listen,” Fallon implored as she fought off a familiar rising tide of aggressive anger building. She was able to say, “For the sake of everyone here, you’ve got to come with me now,” she finished through clenched teeth.
The darkness she’d lived with daily now wanted freedom, and the delusion of governing the darker half in Travis’s arms last night dissolved.
She craved destruction and wanted blood painting the walls.
The spot between her shoulder blades was driving her mad as Dennis’s gaze remained forward, his focus on one spot at the front of the church, and it wasn’t his mother kneeling there.
The handsome man in his late-fifties, manicured beard, wavy black hair, stood proudly with his hands raised to the rafters.
Destiny Strikes Page 18
