by A. C. Mason
She shook her head. “Not in that way.”
“Was this your way of showing him how much you love him? You’d discredit Vaihan Louchian to show your terrorist boyfriend how much you love him. Well it worked.”
“How can you think this of me? I made love to you. I don’t understand.”
“I thought we were sharing something meaningful, but that was a game to you. Why else would you pull me into a bathroom at a party for sex, with a number of guests and friends of Rowley McKie’s there?”
“My birthday party. Birthday sex with the man I love and, I thought you felt the same way about me.”
As much as she believed her words, they were lies. If she loved him, her scent would have changed faintly. An endorphin that human females let off when pairing would have been released in her blood stream. “You see, that’s the problem. I’m not a man.” Didn’t she get that no amount of wanting could change him?
“I didn’t mean it like that. You worry about being undead, yet I’ve never once treated you differently.”
“I am different.” The idea of being equal but not the same was a hard one for people to grasp. “I don’t know why I came here. I didn’t want to believe you’d betray me.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like, Leera? Were you trying to die?” Why hadn’t he seen this? Of course, it made sense. She would use him to end her life and leave him to deal with the guilt of believing he killed her. “You’re suicidal.”
“Not consciously.” She covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t plot out to put you or myself in this situation, as it turned out.” She lowered her arms and pressed her head against the top part of her knees. “If I didn’t give serious thought to how self-destructive my request was, I’d be foolish.”
Normal women didn’t seek out poison.
“The sweet taste of the toxin buzzes inside me. I’ve never felt anything like the euphoria that consumed me. Every sensation, amplified to the point of ecstasy.” She held out her trembling hand. “I’m wound so tight because my body craves more.”
The need would only grow more difficult to control. “You betrayed me, and I can’t trust you. Whether you were doing it to hurt yourself or to impress McKie is irrelevant. The results are the same.” To protect her, he’d end things now. No dragging this out, or putting her through an added media circus.
“How can you say that?” She shook her head.
“When you touch me, I’d always question your motives. No one can live under that kind of scrutiny. I’m freeing myself of my obligation of exclusivity with you. You’re free. See however many men as you are interested in.” He rose.
Tears spilled from her dark brown eyes. “Vaihan.”
No matter how much he wanted to go to comfort her, if he didn’t turn and leave, he’d never find the strength.
“I wish you happiness.” He pushed the door open and walked through.
Chapter 27
Rowley opened the door to Devin’s place. Every media outlet was looking for Leera, so he’d taken her to the one safe place he knew. Even his place was too risky. The media would track her down there. She held tight to his chest and the bag the “good” doctor gave him in case she grew frantic from withdrawal. No part of him trusted a doctor praised by those creatures, but he was the only man experienced with such high-level doses of the toxin.
Not a word had passed between them. If he opened his mouth, hurtful words would come out. The creature would suffer for what he’d done to her, over and over again. The undead did feel pain.
Why didn’t she listened to his warning about what would happen? Maybe she’d done it to make him pay. Hadn’t he hurt enough, though, having to watch her love another man for over a decade? He longed for the games to end between them.
He shut the door and guided her back to the master bedroom and onto the bed. Devin had done as he’d asked, tidied up and provided clean linens.
“I’ll get you some water so you can take one of the pills to relax.”
“I don’t want any more drugs.” Face pressed to the pillow, she waved him off.
“It’s too late for that.” He stormed to the kitchen. Bracing himself with his hands on the counter, he took a few deep breaths. “Keep it together.” Last time he’d lost his head and drove her away. Into its arms. He filled a glass and returned.
Huddled up, she lay beneath the massive burgundy duvet and shivered. “It hurts. I hurt everywhere.”
He grabbed the bag, took out the bottle with the big green pills, and removed one. “Here, take this.”
“God. I told you, no more. I feel sick.” She cradled her core.
“Take the God darn pill, or I’ll force it down.” With his palm opened, he held out the medication.
“Fuck you, Rowley.” Leera shoved his hand away.
“If you had, you wouldn’t be in this fucking mess.” He set the items on the nightstand and grabbed her by the shoulders. He wanted to shake her. Rather, he knelt and leaned his head against her chest. He couldn’t ease this pain for her. This was only the beginning.
She pushed against his shoulders. “I did fuck you. Have you forgotten what that cost me? Because I haven’t. What good man would want me when I’m broken inside? Asshole.” Tears spilled from her eyes.
“None. I made sure of that, didn’t I?” He met the hate in her eyes. “I’m not a good man, but I am a man, and I have never stopped wanting you.” He took hold of her hand, brought it to his cock, and stroked up and down.
“You’re disturbed.” She tried to yank her hand back. “How can you be aroused at time like this?”
He held her hand in place. “You like to play dangerous games?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Despite her protests, the hard peaks of her nipples pressed to the thin cotton shirt the hospital provided her.
She enjoyed rough sex. “Tell me you aren’t turned on.” He lifted her forearm to his nose and inhaled. The sweet stench left behind by the toxin soiled her. The wasteaways he’d found hooked on the drug all carried it. “You smell of its poison.”
“Why are you giving me a hard time?” She angled her body away from him. “First Peter, and now you.”
Rowley clutched her hand. “Do think this is a hard time? You nearly died. Your brother’s wife went into labor. You’re suffering for the next taste of the toxin.” With her hand to his face, he pressed her flesh to his cheek. “I’m a junky too. Since you climaxed for me I want my next fix. The big difference is, my addiction won’t kill me. You push me away only to take a creature into you, why? I’m starting to see a pattern. You like males that are poison to you.”
“Because of you. You ruined me.” She shoved his chest with her palms.
Best-case scenario was for him to push her to an emotional breakdown. She needed to deal with whatever was causing her to hurt herself.
“Not enough, since other males still want you.” He hooked his hand in the waist of the scrubs the hospital had given her. “I’ll make sure this time that no other man will want you.”
Leera clutched the material. “Rowley.” Tears slipped from her eyes. “Stop.”
Flooded with the fear of nearly losing her, he yanked the fabric. “What do you want me to stop? My need to have you, or you wanting me?” Nothing but complete surrender from her would calm him. The reckless games she played had nearly cost her life. He grabbed her legs and flipped her over.
She crawled away. “Why are you doing this?”
“You’re mine.” He held onto her thighs. “You need to be reminded of why you’d promised to love me forever.” Halting her flight with his weight on her torso, he unzipped his pants and withdrew his hard length.
“What is this, some predatory male marking thing?” She struggled to force him off her. “You can’t stand to know he was inside me?”
As a matter of fact, he couldn’t. “I want to wipe the awareness from my mind that it knows your most sacred flesh.” He spat in his palm, brought h
is hand to his erection. With a few strokes, he lubricated the head and shaft. “I’m reclaiming what’s mine, Lee-lee. You.”
He lowered her ass to his erection and pressed the tip to her dark opening. As the tight space expanded to his intrusion, he slipped his other hand around to her wet labia and forced more of himself inside her. “This is the only way I can put a stop to your recklessness.”
“Get off me.” She took hold of the other side of the bed and pulled. “You said, when you are ready, I won’t need to take.”
“I was wrong. Maybe this is what gets you hot.” He yanked her back and intruded into her vaginal opening with two fingers. “You’re soaked.” In and out, he pumped, coating his digits in her juices. “Tell me you don’t like this.”
She gasped. “This isn’t right.”
“No. What isn’t right is how long I’ve waited.” The length of him parted the tight entrance. “I won’t stop until you deliver a no with meaning.”
A soft gasp made her breath hitch. “Tell me no.” Oh, how he wanted to drive into her, but instead he controlled his invasion. “Lee-lee?”
A grunt of encouragement came from her as she surrendered to the unavoidable path he’d set for them.
“Relax, Lee-lee. I’m finally going to hold true to my promise to take care of you in every way.” He kissed between her shoulder blades.
Fingers sunk into the duvet, gripping it, she molded her body to the bed. He thrust, burying his shaft in her, and she moaned. The thumping of her clit with his every caress encouraged him to play with the jewel as he rammed into her.
Tonight he’d see to his pleasure too. With his lips to the nape of her neck, he kissed a trail. “I love the way my cock looks inside your ass.” Using quick pumps, he built to his release. The air held the scent of anal sex. A third finger stretched her insides, and her juices dripped down his hand while he worked in and out of her. “Your pussy is so hot for it.” At the edge of his climax, he slowed his motion.
Rowley wrapped his other arm around her, clutching her breast and lifted her to his chest.
Head back to his shoulder, she whimpered. The lines of her body contoured her bones. From beneath her, he pushed in while his slick fingers circled her nub. Faster, he strummed her center of pleasure. He flexed his cock inside her ass.
She reached her arms around the other side of his head.
“I only know how to show you my feelings when our bodies are connected.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “When you are filled with me.”
She shuddered against him. Tears streamed down her cheeks from her closed eyelids, and her lips met his. Soft kisses. Slow deliberate strokes. She opened her mouth, accepting his tongue while he muffled her pleas.
Coated in her wetness, his fingers pressed her pulsating clit.
She bucked her hips. “Rowley.” The tight opening clenched around his width as she cried out from between gritted teeth. Her eyelids flew open, and her dark gaze was simmering in bliss.
Fast, deep thrusts drew the waves of his release. “I love you, Lee-lee.” His seed emptied into her, and he slowed his movement. In the light cast from the street, sweat shimmered on her body. He withdrew from her, picked her up and laid her next to him.
Silent, she turned away from him, but when he wrapped his arm around her waist, her breathing slowed. A buzzing came from the nightstand. He flipped open the phone.
A text message from Devin. You missed a great barbecue. Hope you can make the next one.
So did he.
Chapter 28
Vaihan shifted on the bench in the corridor outside the president’s office. Fatigue burned his eyes as he tugged the collar of his shirt.
The flat screen TV showed images of firefighters putting out a blaze. A number of undead community centers had been set aflame at four AM in what appeared like coordinated attacks against his kind. Reporters speculated it was in retaliation to Vaihan’s involvement with Leera Waltz, and that Rowley McKie, suspected leader of the Army of the Living, fueled the aggression. Thankfully, none one had been injured.
What he needed was a shower, but he wouldn’t leave until he spoke with the president. He rubbed his eyes. The conversation wouldn’t be pleasant. That much was clear. A group of aids rushed by and darted looks at him then away.
He got it. He’d screwed up. It wasn’t like it had been intentional, but he’d let things get out of hand with Leera. The pain in her eyes... He couldn’t think of her.
With his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands. What kind of heart must he have, if he was able to leave Leera at the hospital? She’d left him no choice. No matter what he did, he couldn’t fix her. She was messed up long before he ever came along.
“The president will see you now.” The young man wore a black suit today. Hemline minutely off. Bad tailor, or something different about one side of his body. He’d yet to find an answer.
Vaihan rose, closed his jacket, and followed. Stillness hung in the air. His only hope was to be honest. He walked past the threshold.
The president sat at her desk wearing a scowl, the delicate lines of her face hardened from her displeasure.
“In this very office, you promised me squeaky clean.” She pointed to the leather sofa. “Shit, you were one of the biggest opponents of legalizing Z-Luv, so this is right out of left field.”
There wasn’t a defense for his involvement. “The last thing I wanted to do was expose her to the toxin.” Not even working on the case would negate his responsibility for his actions. He’d willfully directed the relationship down a sexual path. Though he might defend that by saying it was to deepen the bond, he knew it wasn’t true. He wanted her to convince him. It didn’t take much. “I’m sorry that I have let my people and you down.” The doors closed behind him.
“I don’t understand how you could let this happen. Do you understand what kind of position this puts me in? Do you?”
“An unpleasant one.”
“You have a knack for understating the situation, like ‘untoward’ and now ‘unpleasant.’ If this costs us the Bill, you only have yourself to blame.” She slammed her palms on the desk. “My goddamned legacy out the fucking window.” Lifting the papers from the glass surface, she tossed the sheets in the air.
“It’s not lost. I might have sunk my career, but you will recover.” He might even have to step down from the International Network of Undead Rights. Decades of building the organization’s reputation, gone.
“I won’t let my legacy crumble in front of my very eyes.”
Whatever she may think of his actions, she couldn’t think he’d done this to hurt her or Leera. “Kirsten, I would never compromise you. The last thing on earth I would do is betray you, but I can refuse her nothing.” Since Kirsten had taken office, his people were finally making headway with getting rights.
She huffed out a laugh. “I should have known. Nothing else makes sense. You are in love with her.”
He hung his head. “Yes.”
“I hope she is worth everything this fiasco has cost you–us.” She flicked her fingers between them. “You have no idea how little I want to do what I’m going to have to do.”
“I implore you to do as you must for you and the Bill.” He lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Not as much as I am. I’m suspending you.” She strode passed him. “I want you to stand in the background. You aren’t to speak to the press.”
“Yes, President Yamaguchi.”
She shoved the doors open. Her heels sunk into the lush carpet as she walked. He followed a few steps behind, and with each step, a person joined them as they headed out into the pressroom.
Flashes sparked as they went onto the stage and she continued to the podium.
The president adjusted the microphone. “I will make this statement brief. I’ve suspended Vaihan Louchian as my advisor, without pay, until he rectifies to the people of our nation his lapse in judgment. Effective immediately.” Kirsten turned and strode out of the
room.
A single file of staff, security and interns fell in line behind her.
Vaihan walked into the hall and headed for the exit.
Chapter 29
Leera’s every muscle ached. Rowley held her to his chest, and they were naked, flesh to flesh. Sunlight beamed onto her from the gaps in the blinds. Her head pounded at a constant rhythm. The aftereffects of the drug were hideous. She lifted her hand to her clammy forehead, her curls still damp from the shower Rowley had insisted she take.
“You need to keep your fluids up.” As he spoke, the muscles of his chest flexed against her nipples, rousing them to an erect state. He rolled to his back.
Wouldn’t he just love that. She reached over and downed a large glass of water he’d put there after their encounter. What else could she call the sex? Love hadn’t been involved for her. Comfort, in an odd sense, yes, but she didn’t want to dig too deep to understand. Relief and release were also big parts of what had happened between them.
Still, her mouth felt dry. She tossed off the covers.
With a large hand, Rowley pulled her back. “Where are you going?”
Last night meant their relationship had changed, whether she liked it or not. “To get more water.”
“I’ll get some for you. It will take you forever to find the kitchen in this place.” He kissed her shoulder. “Anything else, while I’m out there?”
She pointed to the spot between her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t mind something for my aching head.”
He nodded and rose from the bed, still semierect. The man was insatiable. What would he expect from her? Her stomach cramped. No less than her soul. She’d settle into this with him. This was what the feds wanted.
Rowley still wanted her, despite what she’d done. Vaihan wanted nothing to do with her. She’d ruined him publicly and politically. He’d never forgive her. Could she blame him? The way he’d touched her and possessed her body was like heaven. All he’d wanted was to keep the bad part of himself far away from her, but she hadn’t let him. Her mind wasn’t right. Never had been. Rowley thought she was into playing dangerous games and maybe he was right.
