"You want anything Lace?" I ask as the line moves up and we're next.
"Nah, I'm good. You see those two men over there?"
Lace points towards the mall entrance. Two men are walking through the doors wearing heavy coats and ski masks. They stand out in the August heat. I frown turning to look at Lace when the first person screams. I hear the scream before I hear the report of the gun going off then chaos erupts around us.
Glass shatters. People are running. The girl behind the counter ducks down. There's a dull roar. Lights flicker. Sparks fly.
I'm rooted in place trying to understand. I turn slowly in a circle. Jake is running at me. Where did he come from? He steps onto a chair at one of the tables. His foot touches the top of the table then he leaps. He's flying through the air. He moves toward me in slow motion his arms wide spread. Glass flies by his head shattering.
He hits me in the chest. I'm on the ground. Can't catch my breath. He's crushing me. My wind is knocked out. I feel it whoosh and then it just won't come back. I push against him but he wraps himself around me. He's kicking with his feet pushing us in a circle.
Jake has a gun. Why does he have a gun? He's laying over the top of me, covering most of my body with his own. He aims the gun then it explodes. A small jet of fire looks like it's shooting out of the barrel. The flame repeats. There's so much noise I can't make out individual sounds. Everything is just loud. Deafening. My ears ring. A burning stench assaults my nose.
Jake's on top of me. His hard abs press down against my breasts. A trickle of blood runs down the side of his face. I reach up to touch it but my arms won't move. He has me pinned. The gun in his hand jumps again. Then again.
My lungs scream for air that I can't get. It's all around me but it won't come in. Tears fill my eyes as my vision starts to darken. Things seem like they're just fading out. It's really kind of peaceful. I'm so glad that Jake is here with me. It may be the last time I see him.
Jake rises up to one knee. He braces the gun in his right hand with his left pointing it off into the distance. As he rises off of me my lungs expand inhaling a deep, burning breath. The darkness recedes and my vision clears except for the tears that are flowing. I gasp in another breath which burns less than the last but still hurts. I double over gripping my stomach.
Bending over I see Lace lying face down on the floor. She looks at me, tears are streaming down her face. She says something but it doesn't cut through the ringing in my ears. She reaches out and touches my face. When she pulls her hand back it's covered in blood. That must be my blood but that doesn't make sense. I feel fine.
Sirens. Loud enough to cut through the ringing. People in uniforms are rushing in. Jake is over me. His fingers move roughly around my head. I cry out from a sharp pain as he touches the back of my skull. He moves in front of me. I see his lips moving but I can't make out the words. He grips my face tightly between his hands leans down so his forehead rests against mine. I feel his lips pressing against me then he pulls back.
"I love you," I read the words from his lips.
Two uniformed officers grab Jake and pull him off of me. They throw him roughly to the ground.
"Let him go! He saved me!" I yell and my voice bounces around inside my head.
A paramedic and another officer come out of nowhere and pull me back. Jake looks up at me from the floor. He shakes his head. The officer cuffs his hands behind his back, pulls him to his feet, and leads him away.
Chapter six
"Do you need anything honey?" Mom asks for the millionth time.
I lie in my old bedroom resting. After the paramedics checked me out the police questioned me and then brought me to my mom's house. Lace sits in the lean back chair that dominates one corner of my room with a blanket pulled up to her chin. She smiles over at me which looks odd because her face has small butterfly bandages across the multiple little cuts on it. I'm sure I don't look any better, the flying glass and shattering material did a number on both of us.
"No Mom, we're fine," I tell her again.
She looks back and forth between us her hands ringing with worry but there really is nothing to say or do. Neither of us were seriously injured largely thanks to Jake. I haven't been able to see or speak to him since he was hauled off by the police. Questions war in my mind about what and why.
Jake had a gun. Jake was there. Jake was shooting with apparent skill, more than I could have managed. How does he know how to shoot? Why did he have a gun? Maybe even more important, why was he at the same mall I was? I don't have any answers.
Once the adrenaline of the situation subsides I'm left feeling nauseous and scared. No explanations, nothing to do, just stay home and watch the news. The news is still running live updates on the shooting. No new information and what they're saying doesn't add up with what I witnessed. They're speculating it was a gang attack or a terrorist attack. The police and the FBI make regular briefings but they say nothing of any substance. It doesn't add up.
"Okay, well if you're sure. I need to run to the market. Are you sure you two will be all right?"
"Yes Mom, we'll be fine. It was just a thing and neither of us is hurt badly."
She's worried. She has every right to be even if her clinging is keeping me from talking with Lace. Maybe if we compare notes something will make sense out of this mess.
"Well I won't be gone more than an hour or so."
"Sounds good Mom. Don't stress it."
She nods one last time then edges out my door somehow managing to keep her eyes on me the entire time. I lay back in silence until I hear her car start and pull out of the driveway.
"What the hell was that?" I ask Lace.
"Your Mom?"
"No. Jake. How was he there? Why did he have a gun?"
"No clue, but damn glad he did. He took you down then pulled my leg out from under me. If he hadn't I was in the line of fire, I'd be dead."
I shake my head side to side and then regret it. When he'd tackled me I cracked my head on the tile. The paramedics bandaged it but told me I'd be fine. Just tender for a few days.
"Yeah, shit," I say.
The doorbell rings. Lace and I look at each other but before I can rise from my bed I hear the front door open. Christ, Mom didn't lock the door? My heart starts pounding as adrenaline dumps into me. My arms shake as I leap straight from the bed to my feet. Lace is beside me looking around the room for a place to hide as the stairs outside my room creak. We look at each other wide eyed then move towards the closet.
"Sheila?" Jake's voice comes from the hallway as he knocks softly on my door.
How in the hell does he know so much about me and my house? Lace shrugs pursing her lips.
"Jake?" my voice sounds tentative even to my own ears.
"May I come in?" he asks.
"Uhm, yeah," I say shrugging to Lace who just shakes her head.
Jake walks into the room. He has a few small bandages on his face and hands. I see relief flooding through him as he looks me up and down.
"Thank God you're alright," he exhales.
"Yeah," I say unsure what to say or do.
Part of me wants to run into his arms. Hide in the warm circle of him locking the world outside. The other part wants to run the other way putting as much distance as possible between us.
Jake stares at me without saying a word. Tension builds in the room between the three of us. I have no idea how to break it or if I want to. He raises a hand then lowers it. He frowns, opens his mouth as if about to say something then closes it without a word. Tears well up behind my eyes. I'm not sure why I'm about to cry. So many emotions war inside me, my chest feels tight, and I'm on the edge of being overwhelmed. Crying just seems natural at this point. I try to hold it back but I can't stop the flow. The first tear falls from my eye.
Jake's brow wrinkles and then he's moving forward. His arms wrap around me and I'm pulled into him tightly. The musky scent of him engulfs me. The strength of him holds me up and I can't hold the dam a
ny longer. My tears flow in full force wracking my body with sobs as I cling to him. He strokes my hair, whispers in my ear and I let it all go. I pour out my pain, my fear, and even my desire, washing myself clean as he holds me. I barely notice as Lace makes her way out of my room, easing the door closed behind her.
"It's okay," he whispers in my ear over and over.
My hands run across his shoulders and trace the lines of his biceps. I grab his head and pull him around so that our lips meet crushing against him with my passion. I feel him harden against me as his arm around my waist pulls me tighter. Pressing together he lifts me up and carries me to my bed. I kiss him with not only passion but a burning need. Having faced death I need an affirmation of life. I need to feel alive, to feel needed, wanted, and desirable.
He lays me gently back onto the bed lowering himself over me. He moves between my thighs, his cock straining against the fabric of his pants as it presses against my thin pajama bottoms. My body responds to the nearness yearning to be filled. Both his hands entwine in my hair and he forces me to look into his eyes. Fire burns there hot and wild. I throw myself into that pyre giving him my heart.
My hands rip at his shirt until the fabric tears open. Lips against mine with bruising force, his hips thrust into mine, fighting the barriers. I reach, struggle and fumble with the fasten of his pants. Lose my grip as he again thrusts his driving need against me.
He kisses his way down my neck, across my collar, down my chest. He grips my shirt in his teeth pulling the soft pliable fabric down until my left breast is revealed. He dives at my tender flesh taking my taut nipple into his mouth with a surprising gentleness. His tongue rolls my sharp bud around pressing it against the edges of his teeth sending tingling sensations out across my body.
I thrust my hips up against him. My hands at last master the secret of his pants. The zipper sounds satisfyingly as it moves away from his straining manhood. I slide my hand under the elastic of his boxers taking his cock in my hand. It's impressive in girth, my hand barely closes around it. I stroke it up and down. He moans against my breast. I thrust my hips and stroke him in time. I moan out as pleasure radiates through me in waves.
Tension builds in my core and I need relief. One of his hands leaves my hair gripping the waist of my pajama bottoms then sliding under them. His rough hands cup my mound and I feel wetness leaking out. He moans louder as he touches me and my sounds match his. I thrust up against his hand needing something to fill me and his fingers graze my clit. Stars explode in my vision increasing the tension and pressure. I thrust against him wildly forcing his fingers inside me. I almost go over the edge with this first penetration.
I stroke him faster as he makes a come hither motion with his finger inside me. Something in me responds, tension builds as he stimulates me. His lips on my breast, his finger inside me, his cock in my hand and I'm falling off a cliff. Shudders wrack my body, electrical waves run up and down my spine and out across my limbs. I cry out in pleasure but still I need more.
I let him go forcing his pants down and freeing him. He returns the favor, soft pants slide over my hips then he's poised on top of me. His eyes stare into me and I into his losing myself in the depths of his soul. He thrusts forward entering me fully and I cry out pleasure and pain. He hits bottom as I meet his thrust then we're bucking one against another grunting our pleasure and our need.
In moments we are moving together, perfectly matching each other. I'm giving as he's taking then he's giving and I'm taking. I've never felt anything so intense. Pressure builds in my core. My nerves become taut wires pulled tighter and tighter with each thrust forward. My nails dig into his back ripping down across him making him cry out his need. He grunts thrusting in hard and then I feel him swelling bigger stretching my thin walls beyond anything I've ever experienced.
"Sheila!" he cries out my name with one final thrust and then he's spasming inside me his hot seed filling me.
"God!" I scream thrusting my hips against him and holding tight as my pussy spasms around his hard rod clenching and unclenching. I milk him for all he's worth then collapse in a quivering mound on the bed beneath him.
He lowers himself down on me gently kissing my cheeks and my lips. We stare into each others' eyes as I feel him soften inside me still enjoying the sense of fullness. One hand traces the line of my jaw then he's kissing me again.
"I love you," he breaths softly.
"I love you too," I reply.
I do. How, why, when I don't know. My heart knows it. I know it. I love him. He's the one.
"I'm so sorry Sheila," he says.
"Sorry?" My mind reels. Not the words I expected.
"I have to leave," he says.
"Okay, but I'll see you soon right?"
Sadness fills his eyes as he shakes his head slowly side to side. I frown and push him off of me rolling to my side so I feel less vulnerable. He just said he loved me, what the hell is this?
"I'm so sorry," he says again.
"Yeah, I got that part. What about the part you explain what the hell all this means?"
He closes his eyes and inhales a deep shaky breath. "I'm going into witness protection."
"What?" I shake my head. This has to be a joke. Some kind of sick, sick joke.
"Look, I've been... I work with some very bad people. The incident at the mall earlier, I can't put you at risk. They'll use you to get at me. They're going to come after me and if- I can't. I just can't. I'm not lying to you, I love you. I don't know. I don't know how or why this happened. I saw you and I knew it.
I can't and I won't risk you. I'll only be happy knowing your safe. That can't happen with me in your life."
"No, you can't be serious. Jake, please. I'll go with you!"
"I'm sorry, you can't. It's too dangerous. This is for the best."
He rises from my bed pulling his pants up and fastening them. He reaches for his shirt but I grab it and hold it to my chest.
"No, no way. This can't be it."
Jake looks at the floor for a long moment then he looks up at me and I see it. He's not playing around. This is no joke.
"Sheila, these people, they're really bad. I'm going to testify against them. I have to be gone before the wedding. Before they put together two and two. If they figure out how I feel about you ... I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."
Something breaks inside. I'm surprised he doesn't hear it. It sounds loud in my head as I feel everything around me fall to pieces. He reaches for his shirt and my numb fingers won't hold on to it. I feel the fabric slowly sliding through my fingers just like the life I had only started to imagine as possible.
He stops at the door turning to look back at me.
"Sheila, I'm sorry," he says then the door is closing behind him and my tears are flowing once more.
Chapter seven
The day of my mom's wedding comes quickly. Lace and I are her bridesmaids. It's been two weeks since I last saw Jake. My heart still aches but it wouldn't have worked out anyway. We're about to be related, even if I'll never see my soon to be stepbrother again.
"What do you think girls?" Mom asks turning back and forth in front of the mirror.
"You look beautiful Mrs. Sandborn. Or should I say Mrs. Marcos Benito?" Lace asks laughing.
My mom blushes and smiles from ear to ear. She does look amazing in her cream wedding gown. Her makeup is perfect, her hair done up to an ideal. I walk over and pull her into a tight embrace. No matter my own heart break, this is her day and I won't be stealing it away from her.
"Thank you both," she says sniffling back her tears. "Sheila-boo would you mind checking to make sure everyone is getting seated okay?"
"Sure Mom," I say.
I slip out of the dressing chamber then make my way over to the chapel. It's a small ceremony so not a lot of people are here. I peek in and see that Mom's side is about half full and so is the groom's side. I frown a little at the people populating the groom's side of the chapel. A lot of less than
savory looking folks over there but then I guess you can't choose your family.
One person stands up and turns towards the back just as I'm about to leave and I stop dead in my tracks. That's the man who Jake escorted out of Lapusa's! What's he doing here? I watch him for a moment as he scratches at his arm furiously then rubs his nose sniffing. Jake never did explain who he was and I was so caught up in the moment I never asked or thought of him again. I push it aside and go to the front foyer. I want to see if anyone else is still arriving.
"How's our special lady?" Pastor Stanley asks as I pass him standing outside the foyer.
"She's nervous but excited," I say smiling.
"That's good," he says. "She deserves to be happy."
"I agree," I say and I realize I mean it. Mom's had a hard life raising me on her own struggling with bills. She deserves a rich guy who sweeps her off her feet like this Marcos has.
Outside the day is overcast but the rain is holding off. The church parking lot is mostly full and there are a lot of cars parked on the street. Two of them have men still sitting in them who seem to be staring at the church. They must be on Marcos side as I don't recognize them.
"Things look great Mom," I say slipping back into the room with her and Lace.
It's time. I lead my Mom to the chapel door. We stand nervously waiting for the music queue then it starts and I walk behind Lace and ahead of my mom down the aisle. Watching her walk down the aisle, the way she glows, it almost makes it all worth it.
****
"Welcome to the family," another stranger says grabbing me by my shoulders and kissing each of my cheeks.
Marcos' family leans towards the effusive to say the least. I've been grabbed, my cheeks kissed, pulled into hugs, and more physical contact than I'm comfortable with. It's still going on. Marcos and my mom cut their cake, open their gifts, a dinner is served, and soon there will be a dance.
Through it all no one mentions Marcos' son's absence. It's like he doesn't exist for them at all. I, for my part, can't keep him out of my thoughts. Listening to their vows, I imagine it is he and I. Watching them dance, I feel his arms around me. My chest aches. An overall sadness carries itself forward with me.
Stepbrother's Secrets (A New Adult Forbidden Romance) Page 3
