by Naomi West
Suddenly, I turned my face to the side, becoming aware of the fact that tears were streaming down my face. “Please, Rip,” I said all my earlier bravado gone. I was just desperate to be held, to be cared for, to feel as though there were something real in my life anchoring me to that moment. Rip was helping me with that, but…
He slowed his pace, drawing his member in and out of me slowly enough that I could feel every bump and ridge along his length. “It's all right,” he murmured into the crook of my neck, pushing my hair back so that he could kiss along the salty lines of my skin. “It's all right. I've got you, Liv.”
He leaned down against me, allowing me to feel his warm weight pressing against me in a way that was already, somehow, familiar to me. I trembled against him, and he kissed my temple. “It's okay,” he repeated.
And I believed it, that was the thing. From the slow, smooth thrusts of his member inside of me to the way he was cradling me against his chest, I believed every word of it. Rip would take care of me. Rip would make sure I was safe. I suddenly sighed against his chest, relaxing into his talented ministrations.
When his hand came up to play with my clit, I knew that I was a goner. I couldn't handle the way he was manipulating my needy hole as well as the way that he was flicking the pad of his callused thumb against my nub; it was too much. I mewled softly and clenched my hands in the sheets, twisting a little beneath him. But he didn't let up, and suddenly my climax overtook me.
He gasped out my name, though, falling through a climax of his own as my warm, wet walls collapsed around him, wringing out his seed as though I had been the one planning this all along. He fell against me, his warmth caressing and gentle and everything that I needed at the moment.
Even as we came down from our shared high, he continued to stare over at me, looking as though there were something he wanted to ask me. But instead, he settled for reaching out, stroking my cheek one last time. “Oh, Liv,” he said quietly, sadly. He kissed me once more, chastely, this time, and then he rolled to his feet and began putting his clothes back on.
Chapter Twenty
Liv
It was while Rip was putting his jeans back on that I finally found my voice. “So what happens now?” I asked.
He grunted a little but offered no other response.
I reached out and caught his arm, though, scowling a little. “That's not good enough,” I told him. “What happens now? Clearly the Gemini Riders are after me. I think they think they can use me as a pawn to get you to deliver the packages. I don't know what you did today, but—”
“I'm not delivering the packages into the jail,” Rip interrupted, sounding agitated. “That's what I did today. I went to the prison and told Cat that she needs to find some other way.”
I frowned at him, impressed but not wanting to let it show. Clearly, his decision hadn't led to the best circumstances for me. We would need to go to the authorities or something, to somehow stop her from using her other sycophants from attacking us. And that would be dangerous enough on its own.
Rip swore quietly under his breath. “I was so happy,” he said, startling me. “I left that prison, and even though I knew that Cat had her plans for me, I thought I was going to be free to...” His eyes slid over towards me, and he looked almost guilty for a moment.
“To what?” I asked, bravely squaring my shoulders. I had a feeling I knew what he had been thinking, and I couldn't deny that it was something that I wanted as well…
“I thought we would be able to start a future together,” Rip admitted, sounding almost embarrassed. “Not that you'd ever be much of a biker chick, but I … well, I can't deny that there's a certain appeal to cozy kitchens and white-washed homes.” He shook his head. “But that is never going to happen. I know that. Whether I deliver the packages or not, I think you're going to have to go into hiding. I should never have gotten you involved in this.”
“It's okay,” I said quietly, unable to look him in the eyes. I picked at the bedspread, wishing that we could rewind five or ten minutes, that our passion could overtake us again. The thing was, there was no future for me with Rip, and I had known that from the very start. He wasn't the type of guy to get married to a mousy little insurance specialist. He wasn't really the type to get married to anyone.
If I was feeling a bit of heartbreak at the moment, it was my own fault, for letting myself believe that I could ... that I could what? Change him? If I had ever thought that, I had to have been delirious.
I swallowed hard and looked away from him, turning my gaze out over the dingy motel room. “They said that you have to deliver the packages,” I told him. “Or else more people will die. I will die.” I had to hope that that would mean something to him.
Rip turned my face towards him, staring down at me for a long moment. It seemed as though he were trying to memorize my features, as though this might be the last time he saw me.
“I can't believe they came after you here,” he finally said. “I never would have expected Cat to...” He shook his head. “We'll need to move hotels, and I'll need to talk to Cherri.”
I nodded my head, unable to do anything more.
The new hotel — the Seven Seas — was marginally better than the last place, at least. Not that that really mattered to me, as I set down my bag in the living room area of our suite. A nicer hotel didn't make up for the fact that in this past week, I had gotten myself mixed up with all sorts of devils and had a gun pointed at me in a hotel lobby. I swallowed hard as I stared around, wondering if Barry had heeded my warning, if he was safe.
I couldn't check on him, though. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that anyone could be tapping my phone lines. The last thing I needed was for them to hear me chatting with my brother, even if he wasn't a target already, I could easily make it so that he was, just through my stupidity.
“Home sweet home,” Rip muttered under his breath as he set his own luggage down. He looked around the place, grimacing in distaste. “Not my style, but it'll do.”
He pulled out his phone, quickly dialing a number. “I have to call Cherri,” he told me as he moved towards the bedroom. “Can you keep yourself occupied out here for a little while?”
Without waiting for an answer, he retreated into the other room, pulling the door firmly shut behind him.
I sank down on the couch, feeling tears prick at my eyes as I hugged my arms around myself. I felt utterly alone, barely able to imagine that this was my life now.
In another lifetime, I imagined that Rip and I might have gotten along—that we might even have dated for an extended period of time. Of course, I couldn't see marriage or anything like that for the two of us—he was too brash, and I was too homely. But we might have been happy for a little while, at least.
That wasn't an option, with our current situation. We might have amazing sex, but it was just that — just sex. I swallowed hard, chanting that over and over in my head in an attempt to convince myself of it all. Just sex, just sex, just sex.
When Rip came out of the bedroom, he fixed me with a look. It was as though he had never seen me before; he was impassive and cold and definitely not the loving man that I was remembering him as. I swallowed hard.
“Cherri will be here in a couple hours,” he alerted me. “She's agreed to deliver the packages herself, in exchange for...” He trailed off, cocking his head to the side. “Well, it's really none of your business, is it?” he asked. “Anyway, you should make yourself scarce. She still thinks you need to be killed before the end of this all.”
Without another word, he retreated again, shutting the door firmly behind him. I couldn't help curling up on the couch, tears streaming down my face.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rip
Cherri walked into the new place in a breeze of confidence that left most people staring at her, myself included, if I was being honest. I shook my head, though, wiping off the look on my face. “The packages are upstairs,” I told her in an undertone.
I still couldn't believe that they had come after Liv like that, and I was going to make sure that someone paid for it. As soon as I washed my hands clean of the rest of this dirty business.
“I'm sure they can't have moved your sister far,” I told Cherri under my breath as we rode up the elevator.
She gave me a look, half frank disbelief and half exasperation. “You don't think so?” she asked. “This is the head of the Gemini Riders that we're talking about. She could have my sister moved to anywhere in the world that she wanted, in the blink of an eye.”
I shook my head. “It doesn't work that way,” I argued. “She would need to—”
“I know how she operates, all right?” Cherri interrupted. “Better than you do. So please don't bother with your platitudes.”
There was nothing I could say in response to that.
When we entered the suite, I was glad to see that Liv had moved to someplace out of sight, just as I had suggested. I didn't really think Cherri would be so bold as to attack her, especially not now we seemed to somehow all be on the same side. But that didn't mean I wanted to take the risk.
“Your pet is hiding,” Cherri said, sniffing a little. She shook her head but she looked amused as she rounded on me, her hands on her hips. “I'm hardly the one you need to watch out for, Rip.”
“I know,” I responded honestly. “But that doesn't change the fact that you'd like to see Liv dead.”
“Plans change,” Cherri said, shrugging her shoulders a little.
I didn't know what to say in response to that, although I knew that the last thing I needed was to hedge my bets with someone as mercurial as she seemed to be. But I would never be so bold as to say that to her face.
“I think we need to come up with a different plan,” Cherri said, turning to me with her hands on her hips. “Entirely.”
I frowned at her. “You heard me on the phone, though. Cat wants nothing to do with—”
“Cat wants the packages delivered to her,” Cherri interrupted. “She doesn't really care how that happens, she just wants them done.” She cocked her head to the side. “And if you're not going to do it, I suppose it falls to me to deliver them.”
I frowned at her. “That's what I was trying to get you to do before,” I reminded her. “So I don't believe you're doing this just for–“
“Of course I'm not doing it for free,” Cherri scoffed. She eyed me keenly. “I expect you to figure out where my sister is being hidden now, and I expect you to ensure that she'll be freed once the packages are delivered to Cat, just as we had originally bargained. It's your fault that things are changing now.”
I could feel my frown deepen. “There's not much that I can do,” I said. “Cat would never let me anywhere near her plans, and especially not after I showed up at the prison and told her that I wasn't going to deliver the packages.”
“I need to get my sister free,” Cherri said, a scowl on her face. “With every new day, all I can think is of all the new tortures that the Gemini Riders must have come up with for her.” She shuddered a little. “She's my little sister, the baby of my family. I can't let her...”
“I don't know that I can help her,” I repeated. “Cat wouldn't let me near her. I doubt I could even figure out where Cat has hidden her, not without help. I'm too recognizable, too—”
“I could help.”
I whipped around towards the doorway, staring in surprise at Liv, who was standing there. She fidgeted with her fingers as though realizing that her appearance was….
Well, I could never say that her appearance was unwanted, but that said, I really didn't expect to see her there, and she was supposed to be hidden someplace. I frowned at her, but that didn't seem to dissuade her. Instead, she strode boldly into the room. “Look, Rip, we should be working together, shouldn't we?” she asked, tossing her hair a little. “You and Cherri and I, we all have things that we want. And at this point, I think the best bet for all of us is to work together.”
I scowled at her. “You should just stay out of this.”
She rolled her eyes. “Rip, I'd love to, but there is no staying out of this at this point. You've got me involved in this, remember? There was someone who already wanted to take me out down in the lobby of our motel—remember?” She strode into the room, staring at Cherri. Finally, she came to a stop, her hands on her hips. “Look, I know you don't want to hear anything that I have to say, but just hear me out, okay?”
Cherri stared back at her, her lips pursed. “Fine,” she finally said, glancing over at me. There was something in her expression that I couldn't read, but I suddenly realized that she wasn't angry, wasn't gunning for Liv's life like she had been. Instead, she almost seemed to have a look of respect on her face.
I frowned at the two of them, wondering how this would play out, but only time would tell.
“I need to find my sister,” Cherri said, staring at Liv. “Because of whatever Rip did at the prison—”
“You know it's more than that,” Liv interrupted. When Cherri started to say something, she rolled her eyes. “Come on. You strike me as someone who's intelligent. Did you really think Cat was going to give your sister back that easily? You struck a bargain with the devil himself; of course things weren't going to go according to plan.”
Cherri paused for a moment and then inclined her head in acknowledgement of Liv's words. “That said—”
“You'll need to disguise me,” Liv said. She fixed her challenging eyes on me, staring me down. “Look, I know I'm in enough danger as it is, but I'm ready to strike a new bargain with you. I need you to look out for Barry.”
I frowned at her. “I'm not sure—”
“Yes, you are,” she interrupted. With her hands on her hips, she was a force to be reckoned with, and I wasn't sure what I could do to dissuade her from her current feelings. “You wouldn't have taken this job if you didn't think that you had backups,” she pointed out. “And if you didn't have Damien and his people, this mission would have probably failed already.”
“Damien hasn't—”
“He hasn't helped you yet,” she agreed, nodding her head. “But that doesn't mean that he couldn't help you.” Her eyes were blazing with a clear challenge, and even though my first instinct was to dissuade her from all of this, I couldn't help but think…
Cherri laughed a little, the sound loud and ringing in the small room. “Wow, Rip,” she said. “I knew that you cared about the bitch, but I didn't realize you were this far gone for her. No wonder Cat targeted her. You're a sitting duck; don't you realize that?”
Liv turned her fiery gaze on Cherri. “What you don't seem to realize,” she said, “is that I could be the only hope that you have. If you want to see your sister alive again, that is.”
Cherri made a scoffing noise, rolling her eyes again. “What do you really think you're going to do?” she asked.
Liv gave her a gleaming grin, though. “Well, I could probably figure out where your sister is being held, at least,” she said. “I'm not saying that I could rescue her or anything like that, but...”
“How do you think you're going to figure out where she's being held?” Cherri asked suspiciously. “You might be implicated in all of this now, but that doesn't mean you're a member of the Gemini Riders. And it would take years before anyone of Cat's people would deign to talk to you.”
“You think so?” Liv asked, her eyes narrowing as she took a few steps closer to Cherri. She grinned a little, a lethal little grin that I had never seen on her before. “All I have to do is remind them how much they want to accept me into their fold. All I have to do is remind them what could happen if I felt like an outsider. They don't want to kill me or they would have done so already. What they would rather
do is keep me as one of theirs, but an obedient servant for them. And I can do that.”
Cherri still looked unsure. Liv sneered at her this time. “Do you really not think that I could help you out?” she asked. “What you don't realize is that I've been cataloguing everything you've done for the whole time I've known you.” Her eyes narrowed further. “I could go to the authorities, and I could destroy you, Cherri Velasquez, if I really wanted to, that is. But I don't really want to.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“You're going to need to disguise me,” Liv said. “As someone that the Gemini Riders would talk to, if it weren't for...” She gestured between all of them. “I think the best way is going to be to find other Gemini Riders operatives. We know there have to be quite a few of them scattered around the city, right? They'd have information on where your sister is.”
