by Naomi West
“I think she's got a good idea,” Cherri piped in. “It's not something that he'd suspect, her just walking right into his lair.”
“Anyway, what other sorts of weaknesses does he have?” Liv argued. “You say that he's this horrible, bloodthirsty killer, right? But he's just a man. I'm sure he has a weakness for a pretty girl, and–“
“It's too risky,” I said again, my voice a mere growl this time. “I'm not going to let you—”
“You're not the boss of me,” Liv said, tossing her head a little. “Rip, we may be doing ... whatever it is that we're doing. But you can't control me. You don't get to decide what I can or cannot do. I'm telling you, this is the only way for us to get to Rosetta. Unless one of you comes up with some other bright idea, this is the plan we're going to go with.”
I scowled at her, but it was clear from her expression that she wasn't going to back down. And as much as I didn't like the plan, I didn't have a better idea. Finally, I threw my hands in the air. “Fine,” I said. “Whatever.”
Just because I cared about her, it didn't mean that I could…
It was Cherri who came up with the alternative plan. “What if you didn't meet him at his car?” she said, frowning thoughtfully. She glanced back and forth between the two of us, and I wondered if she was actually going to help me out. “Think about it, Rip. You're a member of the Gemini Riders. You could easily march into their headquarters, with some sort of a cover story in case you get caught in there. And Liv could go with you as your bimbo of the week, your arm candy. No one would question it.”
“But how are we going to get to Rosetta, if she's at Castor's house and we're at the Gemini Riders' headquarters?” Liv asked, rolling her eyes a little. “That totally defeats the entire plan.”
“I doubt Rosetta stays at his home when he isn't there,” Cherri said, looking as though the gears were turning in her head. She shrugged a little. “He wouldn't be able to trust her there. And anyway, he would want to show off his pet. My sister is pretty.”
“That's actually a good point,” I said, thinking it over. “I would feel better about things if we were in the headquarters, even if things started to go wrong, I could pull some strings with people I know out here, make sure that we have some sort of backup protection in case anything went wrong.”
“We'd still dress you up just the same,” Cherri said. “You could still use your sex appeal to distract Castor while Rip finds Rosetta and frees her.”
“What about the packages?” I asked Cherri, frowning a little. “Castor won't be happy, and when Castor is unhappy, he goes straight to Cat. Once Cat finds out that Rosetta's been freed, she'll suspect that you had something to do with it. It won't be safe for you to—”
“I'll deliver one of the packages before we do all of this,” Cherri said, shrugging a little. “As a sign of good faith to both you and Cat. I've already been thinking about how to do it. There's a little spot at the back of the prison yard that borders on some woods. I think I can bring the packages there and get them through this weak section of the fence. Then I could tell Cat where they were and she could go get them. That way, none of us need to worry about carrying the packages into the prison.”
“That's a good idea,” I said, nodding at her. To be honest, it didn't really sound any safer than the original plan for smuggling the packages into prison, especially because I wasn't sure how Cat was supposed to get the packages from the back fence to her bunk without being caught with contraband. But as long as that was all out of my hands, I didn't really care what she was planning. I was just ready to be done with this whole thing.
“Deliver one of the packages today, then,” Liv told Cherri. “You'll want to get your sister out as soon as possible, I know, and I'm ready to go back home and be done with this mission. I want it over.”
Cherri nodded. “So do I, if I'm being honest. And Rip, I'm sure you feel the same.”
I nodded. “I should do some research, before we storm the national headquarters, though,” I said grimly. “We need to know what sort of a place we're working with. At the very least, we need to figure out someplace to have as our meeting place. I'll head over there today and poke around a little. Maybe meet up with a friend there, if I can arrange for that, just so I can make sure things go as smoothly as possible when we go over there for real.”
“That's a good idea,” Cherri said approvingly. She frowned, though. “And what are you going to do with Liv?” she asked. “You can't be planning on just leaving her here on her own.”
I looked over at Liv, considering her for a moment. I didn't think that she was going to run, not since that day when she had called up Hollande. I think she was starting to realize that she was a part of this, whether she wanted to be or not. She certainly had been pulling her weight lately.
“You're not going anywhere, are you?” I asked her. Liv shook her head, biting a little at her lower lip.
Cherri raised an eyebrow. “Do you really believe her?” she asked, a sneer in her tone. “She could turn us all over to the authorities, and you're just going to take her word that she'll still be here when you get back?”
“Yeah, I am,” I said simply, shrugging a little. I fixed her with a challenging look. Cherri was the one to look away first.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rip
Liv was watching from the bed as I got dressed. “You're really going through with this,” she said, leaning back a little.
I couldn't help rolling my eyes at her. “Yeah, I'm really going to do this,” I said gruffly. “What else would I do? Anyway, this isn't the difficult part. That'll come when we're both in there together, trying to get Rosetta out.”
She sighed, though, lying back on the bed and putting an arm over her face. “I don't know, I just can't shake the feeling that your going in there today is going to get back to Cat and she's going to suspect something.”
“What would she suspect?” I asked. “She's not going to think that we've suddenly teamed up with Cherri. And she's going to get the first of the packages delivered today, so that's going to be more than enough to occupy her thoughts.”
“I know,” Liv sighed. She sounded quiet and sad, though, and something about it tugged at my heartstrings.
I went over to the bed and sat down next to her, lightly placing a hand on her leg. “Hey, look at me,” I said, jostling her a little.
She removed the arm over her eyes and looked up at me. “I just am worried about you,” she said quietly. “If something happens to you...”
“I left a message with Damien,” I told her. “He'll take care of you if something happens to me.”
“I don't even know him.”
“You don't have to,” I said. “I made it clear to him ... what you mean to me.”
“What do I mean to you?” Liv asked curiously.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, regretting that choice of words. Not that I didn't have feelings for Liv. Somehow, for some reason, despite the fact that I knew better than to fall for someone who was from such a different world as me.
“I feel responsible for dragging you into this,” I told her. “Your safety is my concern because of that.”
Was that a look of disappointment on her face there? I filed that away.
“I just wish there were some way for me to know that you were safe,” she told me, stroking her hand down my leg.
I raised an eyebrow at her as her hand came to rest between my legs, dangerously close to my member, which was twitching and hardening already with even that slightest amount of attention paid to it.
“Come here,” Liv said, her voice barely audible.
I complied, crawling over and covering her body with my own. It felt as though there were something there, hanging in the air between us — those words that neither of us wanted to say to the other.
I kissed her before either of us could make the mistake of saying something that should have remained left unsaid. Our unspoken feelings boiled over into the kiss,
though, making it feel desperate and needy. Our teeth clashed a little; there was almost too much pressure between our lips. But with the way our hands roamed restlessly against one another's forms, everything seemed just about perfect.
“I'm nervous about all of this,” Liv admitted as we broke apart. It was the first bout of nervousness that she had admitted to, and I realized I wanted nothing more than to soothe her worries. But there was no way to really do that. We were still in the thick of this mission, and we wouldn't be safe again until Cat had everything that she wanted.
I kissed her again, more gently this time, cupping her cheeks in my palms. Slowly, I lifted her shirt, kissing along each bit of skin that I uncovered.
She moved restlessly beneath me, hands fluttering at my own shirt in a weak attempt to remove it. I pulled the offending garment off and tossed it to the side. I could make time for this before I went over to the headquarters and had a look around. I'd be a bit late to meet Johnny, but that didn't bother me now.
Liv made a soft noise as I settled between her legs, nipping lightly at the soft skin of her inner thighs. I moved closer towards her core, running my tongue over her clit and making her arch against the sheets. “That's...” She trailed off, though, too overcome with pleasure to finish that sentence. I got the idea, though.
I grinned up at her, continuing to lave her folds with my tongue. I dipped my tongue inside of her, stroking my fingers along her velvety skin as well. “Think I can make you come just like this?” I asked her, my voice gone husky with my own desire.
Liv blinked down at me, seeming as though she barely understood what I was saying. In fact, it seemed almost as though she barely processed the fact that I had said something to her. But finally, she blinked herself back into awareness and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Please,” she said.
I stepped up my game a little, scissoring my fingers inside of her as I continued to stab into her with my tongue, swirling it around and finding all the sensitive bits, making her cry out with need.
“Rip,” she said breathlessly, urging me back up into her arms using her foot at the small of my back. “Rip, please.”
“I thought you wanted me to make you come using just my mouth,” I told her teasingly.
She blinked at me and shook her head a little. “I can't… I need...” She was blushing. No matter how many times we did this, she still acting like a desperate, nervous virgin. It was endearing, and I couldn't help but smile as I traced the line of pinked skin with my mouth.
I finally stripped out of my jeans, sighing in soft relief as I freed my erection from the tight confines of the material. My cock was already thick and red, ready to plunge into her warm, slick heat. But when I lined it up, I paused for a moment, wanting to tease her a little more.
She made a quiet noise, writhing a little against the sheets. “Please, please, please,” she whimpered, reaching down between us to try to guide me inside of her.
I pushed her hand away and then decided to pin both her hands up above her head. I grinned down at her. “I'm in control here,” I growled. “And don't you forget it.”
She practically sobbed. “Rip, I need you,” she said.
I paused, cocking my head to the side as though I was considering it. But then, I pushed swiftly inside of her, not stopping until I was fully inside her, all the way up my shaft. She groaned long and low, and I couldn't help but give an answering groan.
“So tight...” I muttered.
She grinned at me, but the smile quickly slipped off her face. “Move, Rip,” she said, trying desperately to find purchase against the sheets so that she could move against me.
I finally began moving, setting a punishing pace. Three thrusts later, she cried out loudly, eyes rolling back in her head as she came, convulsing against me. I could feel the walls of her pussy fluttering around my length, and I groaned, feeling my orgasm creep up as well. Normally I had more stamina than this, but something about sleeping with Liv had me feeling like a giddy and overeager teenager again, at least in terms of how long I could last.
My hips stuttered against hers as I spilled thick and hot inside of her folds.
As I pulled out and rolled away from Liv, she reached out and caught my arm, curling into me. “Rip, I—” she started, and then snapped her mouth shut.
I frowned down at her and then turned my gaze back towards the ceiling. More of those words we weren't supposed to say to one another.
“Be careful,” she finally said quietly, rolling away from me and pulling the sheets up over her form.
I took that as my dismissal and said nothing in response, dressing in silence and going out to my bike. I had to focus on what I was doing; there was no more time to dwell on what I might or might not be feeling for my partner in crime.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Liv
Cherri tossed a bag towards me when she entered the hotel room. “Here,” she said. “I picked up a new outfit for you to wear when you and Rip go to the national headquarters.”
I blinked down at the bag, looking back and forth between it and her. “Why?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes a little. “Because you still want to look sexy, of course, but you also don't want to look like a whore. You need to look like someone that Rip would be interested in...”
“Good point.” I bent down and grabbed the bag, moving with it into the bathroom to get changed.
“How did the package delivery go yesterday?” Rip asked as I retreated.
I flicked on the bathroom fan so I wouldn't have to hear the rest of that conversation. The less I knew about the package delivery, the better, I figured. I pulled on the gauzy, button-down white shirt and the skimpy black skirt and stared at myself in the mirror. Even without the hair and makeup, I was practically unrecognizable. But I looked good. I was actually pretty happy with the way I looked in my reflection, and it made me think that maybe when I got back home, it would be time for a bit of a makeover. Maybe that would introduce a little spontaneity into my life, without it being so much spontaneity that my life was in danger like it was now.
“Give me one last run-down of the plan so I can make sure we're on the same page,” Rip demanded as I walked out of the bathroom. I felt a little disappointed at his lack of reaction to my clothes, but I dutifully opened my mouth to recite the plan for the umpteenth time.
“We're going to watch the place until we see Castor and Rosetta, and then you and I are going to walk in together. Once we get past all the security mechanisms, we'll split up—you'll leave me in the lounge while you go looking around. Castor will leave Rosetta in one of the lounges while he goes into one of the other lounges to talk with his guys. I'll find him there and ask to talk to him in private. I'll keep him distracted while you find Rosetta and get her out of there. She'll go with Cherri in Cherri's car. I'll break off my meeting with Castor and meet you back in the second room from the entrance. We'll get on your bike, and off we'll go.”
Rip nodded approvingly. “Just make sure that when you're talking to Castor–”
“Rip,” I interrupted, giving him a look, “I know. You have to trust me when I say I know.”
Rip smiled a little sheepishly at me. “I know you know,” he said. “I just want to make sure that–”
“I know,” I interrupted again, shaking my head. I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Well, Cherri? You going to do my makeup or what?”
It was all false bravado, though. This had kind of been my plan — the whole idea of distracting Castor with his sexuality and all of that. But that didn't mean it wasn't nerve-wracking to put the plan into action.
As we walked into the national headquarters — which honestly looked just like any other office building, just with more security measures at the entrance — my grip on Rip's arm was tight, and not just because Cherri had put me in spiky heeled shoes for this excursion. I swallowed and looked around.
“Relax,” Rip muttered under his breath. “You look suspicious, turning your
head left and right like that.”
I blushed a little and obediently calmed down my gaze a little bit. Rip greeted a few people, clearly having met them the previous day when he'd come to do reconnaissance. When we reached the lounge where we would split up, he leaned in and kissed me, his lips lingering against my skin.
“I'll meet you soon,” he murmured. I watched him leave the room, walking casually as though he had every right to be there. Which I supposed he did; I was the only non-biker here.
I rocked back and forth on my toes and heels a few times, counting to ten in my head so that Rip would have ample time to get away from there. Then, I started off down the hall, peeking into room after room in an attempt to spot Castor's dark head.
