The Initiative: Book One of the Jannah Cycle

by D. Brumbley

  “Just finished up. All of the account info that Bri told me about finally came through.” Brianne had a certain amount of money on her own, and she had transferred all of it to the Bickford Estate, even though the estate didn’t need it. Rachel had turned all of hers back toward her family, and Margo didn’t really have much to begin with, but it didn’t matter. “Also, I transferred the money that you told me to give to the Prince farm as a donation. I haven’t heard from Ben, but I assume we will. I don’t know if he’ll be happy even though you called it ‘Larissa’s dowry’. Especially because nothing has been made official.” She just shook her head as she got up from the desk to stand in the doorway of the bathroom while he cleaned up. “There’s something else I wanted to show you.”

  “They’re gonna need to hire a caretaker for Joseph pretty soon. Ben knows that. He can get mad if he wants, as long as their dad gets taken care of.” He shrugged off the possibility of Ben getting angry, even though the guy was one of his closest friends. It wouldn’t be the first time Ben was angry at him, and Liam was sure it wouldn’t be the last. He grabbed a hand-towel from nearby and began working his hands and face dry as he turned to face her. “Show me what?”

  “It doesn’t really matter now, but I just wanted you to know.” She held out an envelope, and when he opened it, he could see that it was on Consortium letterhead. They tried to recruit her. “After I graduated and my test scores were so high, they sent someone to talk to me and my parents.” Rachel was younger than Margo and Bri, Bri a year older than Liam, and Margo was his age. Rachel was close to two years younger than Liam, but obviously a lot smarter than she’d ever really let on. “But this is the first time they offered me a job. With quite a salary.”

  Liam’s eyes went wide as he looked over the letter, and all the zeroes on the offer they had made to her. He looked back up at her with his mouth still hanging open. “Holy shit, they want…” he looked her up and down as he cut himself off, “I mean, I always knew you were brilliant, but this is some ridiculously high-powered shit they want you working on. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have no idea what I just read.”

  Rachel laughed weakly. “I’ve always been good with math.” She cleared her throat afterward, since that was oversimplifying things greatly. “My parents didn’t come to our wedding because they didn’t want me to marry you. They certainly didn’t want me to be in a polygamous marriage either.” She had originally lied and told him that her parents just couldn’t make the travel happen, but it wasn’t true. “They had a very specific plan for me that included having me apply for Jannah and marry someone of their choosing. When the Consortium visited, they basically guaranteed me a spot. But I got out here and I met you and things changed for me. I never applied for Jannah, which is probably why the Consortium contacted me. I already replied and declined the offer and informed them that I am now married and I’m going to stay here on Earth with you.”

  There weren’t many similarities between Liam and Logan when it came to anything but their physical appearance, but there were some mannerisms that people who spent a lot of time around them both eventually picked up that they did, in fact, share. The face they made when they were pondering something and the fact that they both had a tendency to step back for a second to let things process was one such commonality, and Rachel could see the gears turning behind Liam’s eyes as he handed her back the letter. “If they had some kind of master plan in mind for you, I can see why they’d be pissed.” He thought for a while longer about it, then slowly moved to join her in the doorway to the bathroom, so that she was leaning back against the door frame with him up against her. “If going to Jannah is what you wanted, I would’ve applied with you. I had no idea you were mixed up with them to begin with.”

  “It wasn’t what I wanted.” She reached up to run her hand along the side of his face. “And don’t say things like that. You love Bri and Margo too, and I don’t think you would have wanted to take the risk of leaving them behind.” Rachel pulled him into a soft kiss. “You should know something else.” She said against his lips, but her posture revealed to him that she didn’t want to tell him. “My parents not only wanted me to apply for Jannah, but before I did that, they wanted me to come out here and meet Logan. The Bickford name is pretty famous in the central districts, you know. So is your money.” She looked up into his eyes and sighed, but she hoped that he trusted her by now, especially because she had never once cared about his money and if he looked everything over that she had ever touched, he would see that she hadn’t done anything in secret or done anything to hurt him. “They wanted me to go after Logan for your wealth.”

  That actually made Liam laugh, and he leaned down to kiss her roughly, his hands gripping her sides to press her spine back against the frame of the door with the bulk of him pressed against her. From the first time he’d been with her, he’d been thoroughly entertained by how small she was and how easy she was to throw around when the mood struck him, and the way he was with her showed his fascination. “If you had actually wanted me for my money, you would’ve asked for a bigger rock.” He turned his face to kiss her left hand where it rested against his face, and the modest ring it bore. “Why do your parents care about Bickford money? Have they got some kind of problems for themselves, or did they just want to try and make you a gold-digger for kicks?”

  Rachel wasn’t about to reveal too much about her parents, not because she didn’t trust Liam, but because she didn’t want him to get mixed up in anything that could cause trouble. “They don’t have problems, they are just always looking for ways to get access to wealth.” She shrugged but she was grateful that he didn’t doubt her feelings even for a moment. “I’m so relieved that you believe me. I was afraid if I told you what brought me here that you would throw me out and never want to see me again.”

  Liam just gave her a sarcastic look and shook his head. “You think I’m new to the idea that parents want to throw their daughters at me for my bank account? Please. That’s the whole reason Margo got here in the first place. Just so happened she also happened to really care. I’m not surprised your parents would set you up like that. So long as you’re here because you want to be. Honestly, out of the three of you, you’re the one who surprised me most when it comes to being willing to jump into this crazy three-way we’ve got set up here.”

  “Not a three-way, Liam. I am not sleeping with Bri or Margo.” She clarified quickly, since apparently Bri had also made an off-the-cuff suggestion about some such idea and Rachel was not interested. “But why did I surprise you? I was the one who said ‘I love you’ before you did.”

  He grinned at her clarification on the three-way, and just shook his head. “I know that. I just…you always surprise me, that’s all.” He poked at the paper she was still holding in one hand. “You could be anywhere in the world, in the solar system or the galaxy, obviously, if you wanted. Do anything you set that brain of yours to doing. I’m sorry, but it’s gonna be a while before I really manage to take it in that you’ve decided to stay out here with a hick from the midwest district helping run a farm.”

  “You’re right. I could be anywhere I wanted, and I’m exactly where I want to be.” Rachel tossed the piece of paper to the ground, since clearly the offer meant nothing to her, and then she kissed him again to prove her feelings. When the kiss ended, she pressed her forehead to his. “I’ve never really felt comfortable enough with Logan to really speak my mind, but are you sure that he and Anna are absolutely set on going?” There was something in her voice that betrayed more than just open curiosity behind her question, but it was hard for Liam to pinpoint what it was.

  “They seem to be.” Any trace of a smile left his face at that admission and he leaned back against the other side of the door frame, holding her hand between them as he slouched to be closer to her height. “They’ve been packing stuff up, saying goodbye to things, getting all quiet, so yeah, I think they’re really going. I don’t think I’ve completely got my own head around i
t yet, even if we have known for a while. Why do you ask?”

  “It just seems really dangerous.” Rachel said softly, but she wasn’t looking directly at Liam when she spoke. “I know my parents wanted me to go but…” She shook her head. “I don’t think people really realize that the Jannah Initiative is about preparing people to go to a new, unpopulated planet. That means stretching people past their limits to see if they’re capable of adapting to change. It’s not going to be easy for anyone who gets involved, and I don’t want Anna or Logan to get hurt.” When she finally met his eyes, he could see in her brown eyes that there was more behind what she was saying. She was worried, but she hadn’t explained clearly why.

  “Neither do I. But what am I gonna do, try and tell him he can’t go? Yeah, that would go over well.” He didn’t press her vagueness and actually laughed at the idea of telling Logan what to do about anything. He might as well try and tell the midwest not to have tornadoes anymore. It would listen just as well as Logan ever would, even though both the Prince and Bickford families had spoken their concerns.

  “They sound like they’ve thought it through, I just wish that they had made a different decision.” Rachel pulled Liam into another kiss, her lips searing his as her tongue teased along his bottom lip. “I’m glad that you’re not going, though. I want you here with me.”

  “Good thing that’s where I’m gonna be, then. I like it when you get your way.” He grinned under the kiss, but held her loosely as he looked back into her eyes. “I get the feeling there’s more you’re not telling me.” He eventually said quietly. She’d heard Liam angry before, and heard him suspicious, and his tone was neither, just confirming a thought. “Which is fine. I know you don’t talk much about home, and I respect that. I’m glad you told me about the Initiative thing and the Consortium offer. So long as you’re here and none of the things you don’t talk about are gonna slide in and try to take you back, I can live with some secrets.”

  Sometimes Rachel had moments where she realized that Liam was more clever than she gave him credit for, or he knew her better than she realized, and she immediately felt guilty and surprised at the same time. She never thought that he was dumb, but she did think that he didn’t often pay close enough attention to notice things. “Nothing is going to take me away from you.” She promised and then she searched his eyes again, grey, like Logan’s. “I don’t give you enough credit for being able to read me like you do.”

  That comment made him grin. “Nobody does. It’s what makes me special.” He kissed her again once she’d given him that promise and pulled her in to stand between his legs as he slouched to be closer to her height. “I love you, Rach. I’m glad you chose here instead of there. And maybe one of these days, if Logan and Anna pull it off, we’ll go along and see what the other side of the galaxy looks like. For the time being, I really, really like you here. And I’m gonna make it my personal mission in life to make sure you never regret deciding to stay.”

  Rachel slipped her small hands underneath his shirt and ran her fingers along his skin as soon as he pulled her in against his body. She sure enjoy feeling every ridge of muscle along his chest, and a shiver of pleasure ran down her spine. “I love you too, ‘hick from the midwest’.” She replied with a wry grin, repeating what he had called himself before she kissed him intensely, full of need. “I’ll tell you everything someday. Right now, it’s too risky to talk about my parents in depth. But someday. I promise that too.”

  “Too risky, huh?” The look in his eyes was teasing, but he didn’t disbelieve her. He reached up between them and began unbuttoning the loose blouse she was wearing without taking his eyes off hers. “So what you’re saying is that I married a dangerous woman? Is that what you’re telling me right now?”

  Rachel laughed, but as soon as he pushed her shirt off of her shoulders, she wasn’t really laughing. It was hard to tell if she was distracted by his determination to strip her or the fact that he was inquiring about secrets she wasn’t ready to tell. “Maybe. Does that turn you on?”

  “A little bit, have to be honest.” He ran his hands down her bare arms and then along the band of her jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping them in turn. “So there’s somebody out there, somewhere, who really doesn’t want me doing this to you?” Once he had her jeans undone, he left them where they rested on her hips and slid his hand down over the panties she was wearing to tease her expertly, his hand beckoning her against him with every slow motion. His lips found their way down her exposed skin. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Mhm.” She nodded slowly, her eyes already partially closed by his touch, since he really was quite talented with his fingers and his lips. He wouldn’t have ensnared three women who would be willing to share him if he wasn’t good at pleasing them. “My parents definitely don’t want you to do this to me. Their response to our wedding invitation was to tell me to come home.”

  That made him laugh, though it was just a short burst before he started kissing down over bared shoulder, still working her against him with every brush of his lips. His fingertips grazed along her breasts. “That would’ve been a shame. What do you think they’ll do when we eventually tell them they’re gonna be grandparents?”

  “I hope they’ll be happy by then, but also considering that I hope we get pregnant soon, they might not be happy.” She squirmed underneath his attention, but clearly she was enjoying it. “We’re going to make such beautiful babies.”

  “Damn right we are.” His free hand snaked around to her back to unclasp the bra she was wearing, but his touch on her was slow, unhurried, as Liam had been for most of the time she’d known him. In every respect, he seemed like the kind of man who would be concerned with getting to the point as quickly as possible when it came to sex. He certainly teased enough, and there were times with him when that was true and he was greedy about it. But most of the time, in contrast to every other man his wives had been with and most other men on the planet, Liam seemed in absolutely no rush about enjoying intimacy. When they’d first gotten together, he had spent hours turning every inch of her into a satisfied and relaxed puddle, almost entirely without any payoff on his own end. His priorities hadn’t changed in the meantime. His main focus was on pleasing her, and, to hear Brianne tell it loudly and often, pleasing all of them. “If they’re half as beautiful as their mother, they’ll be some truly gorgeous specimens.”

  Rachel was a fairly straightforward woman when it came to intimacy, though they had explored each other in plenty of ways that their sex life would never be considered vanilla. She grabbed his hand, though, and then tugged him back toward their bed, since she didn’t want him to have to slouch in the bathroom doorway. “You have always been the most charming, smooth-talking man I’ve ever met.” She helped him out of the remainder of his clothes before they actually got onto the bed. Rachel mauled his lips like a sex-starved teenager before she said anything else. “Do you remember the first thing you said to me, when I showed up at that bonfire looking for Logan?”

  He had to think back, since he certainly remembered seeing her for the first time, but what he’d actually said to her he was having a hard time bringing to mind. “Something about hoping you don’t find him, since he’s better looking, I think. And I told you to come back if you didn’t find him because I was more fun anyway.”

  Rachel crawled on top of him on the bed and sat down on his abs, which were deliciously well-defined. There were definite perks to being with a hard-working ‘hick’. She tossed her dark, glossy hair back over her shoulder as she sat there and looked down at him. “I didn’t ever go looking for him. I sat by the fire and watched you for a while instead.”

  “Stalker.” He poked her side and pulled one of his pillows behind his head to get comfortable before he started running his hands over her legs and hips while they spoke. It was fairly dim in the room, since the room had curtains that blocked most of the sunlight coming through and there had been no reason to turn any lights on, but Liam knew ever
y part of her by touch, so the dark didn’t matter. “Can’t imagine why I didn’t see you.” He pinched her leg teasingly, her skin dark enough that she came close to disappearing in the dim light of the room, as he imagined she must have that night by the bonfire. “I vaguely remember getting more drunk than I probably should have that night. There was a lot going on. Obviously you didn’t see anything that was a deal-breaker.”

  “You were with Margo for a while, but I didn’t know she was your girlfriend then, since she left and you didn’t go with her.” Margo was a difficult woman to handle sometimes, so she certainly wasn’t saying it as an accusation of any sort. Rachel was still smiling at him as his hands roamed along her bare body. “You got really drunk, actually.” She laughed and then leaned in so that her lips were dangerously close to his. “And you run your mouth when you’re drunk. You said all sorts of dirty things to me when you saw me again, and no one had ever talked to me that way. Not to my face, anyway. When you kissed me, it was all over. I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said your tongue could do to me.” ***

  The look on his face was scandalized. “When I woke up that next morning, you told me nothing happened.” He smacked her ass when his hands got back around to it, and kissed her roughly as he laughed. “You fucking liar. I wake up on my own patio and can’t remember how I got there, you’re sitting there curled up against me with that skirt you were wearing hiked up just about to your ass, and then you tell me nothing happened. Bonfire’s all burnt out on the other side of the front yard and there’s bodies all over the place sleeping it off.” He chuckled at the memory, since he had felt incredibly awkward about it at the time, but after the fight he and Margo had been having, he didn’t feel guilty about it.