The Raven Room

by Ana Medeiros

  Julian pulled her jeans and underwear down and unzipped his slacks. She was so aroused that she accommodated all of him all at once. They both cried out with the sensation of it.

  “We have a deal, then,” he said, kissing her.

  With one hand still on the back of her neck and the other on her thigh, Julian kept her against his body as he moved in her. Alana wrapped her leg around him and he saw her unbutton his shirt. The sensation of her gentle, yet passionate touch on his bare chest made him close his eyes.

  “I love how wet you get,” Julian said.

  They were moving together. A slow and looped stir of their bodies; the tempo of it was increasing Alana’s arousal. Julian looked into her eyes. “You’re dripping on me, I can feel it.”

  “Don’t stop.” She tried to take him deeper inside of her. “Please don’t stop.”

  “Do you want to come? Do you, Alana?”

  “Yes!”

  Her nails were on his skin and his breath caught in his chest. He wanted to feel her hands on his whole body. “Tell me how much you want it. Tell me how much you want me…tell me,” he whispered, while he kissed her neck.

  “I want it. Please don’t stop. I want you. All of you. Please.”

  The husky tone of her voice only intensified his desire, and the heat of her body, together with the scent of her skin, were all that was real to him.

  “Who do you belong to? Say it.” Julian’s focus was on only her and he knew, right at that moment, what she craved. He wanted to give Alana everything.

  “You. I’m all yours.” He heard her say.

  “That’s it. You’re mine. You’re my gorgeous, eager slut. I own you.”

  Her sounds of agreement almost pushed him over the edge.

  With no warning, Julian stopped moving. He continued to hold her against him, remaining very still inside of her.

  “Please don’t…I’m so close….” Alana whimpered against his chest. The sensation of her scratching and biting him made it almost impossible for Julian not to surrender to his own desire for her.

  “Can you feel how much I want you?” he asked, not recognizing his own voice. It sounded guttural, coming from an unknown place within in. “How much I need you?”

  He felt her nod.

  “Beg for me to let you come. Beg. I want to hear it.”

  “I’m so close.”

  “Beg,” he demanded, pressing his forehead to hers. They were near the fireplace and the heat from it, added to the elevated temperature of their bodies, was making it hard for them to breathe. They were both sweating profusely. Moving Alana’s hair away from her neck, Julian licked the beads of sweat off her skin.

  “Please, let me come on your cock. Please. I’m begging you.”

  Julian felt gratification spread through his body and lifting her shirt up, he tugged on her bra so he could close his mouth on her breast. As he used his lips and teeth on her, he knew he was marking her. Julian heard her cry of pain; felt her pull his hair. He gripped Alana’s hips hard.

  “I’m all yours,” he groaned, his mouth still on her breast.

  As soon as he relaxed his grip, she started to move on him.

  “That’s it…you look so beautiful right now…don’t stop…fuck yourself with my cock.”

  A sob escaped her lips and Julian didn’t know if the moisture on her face was sweat or tears. He rubbed his cheeks on hers. He was inside of Alana, her whole frame against his body, but he still wasn’t close enough to her.

  “I want to feel you come. I need it.”

  “Julian….”

  As she said his name he felt all of her tense up. “There…just let it take you…you’re squeezing me so tight,” he said, pulling her head back so he could have a clear view of her face. Julian watched the feeling of her orgasm sweep over her. “Fucking beautiful. So amazing. You’re my amazing woman.”

  Alana continued to tremble in his arms and Julian held her, his harsh breathing not different from hers. “I’m not done with you,” he whispered in her ear.

  He moved her onto her back and kneeled between her open legs.

  Julian knew she was still enjoying the pleasure of her release. “You taste so good…so good.”

  Alana placed her legs over his shoulders and Julian wanted to enjoy all of her. Over and over again. He looked up and saw the angry bruise on her breast. She would probably carry it for a week, if not more, but he hadn’t marked her permanently.

  Alana caressed Julian’s hair with her fingers and he welcomed her hands on him. Soon she was lifting her whole body off the rug to meet his mouth and he brought her closer to him. Julian couldn’t imagine a more satisfying taste; Alana’s arousal on his tongue, on his lips, on his face.

  She was moaning, detailing exactly what she wanted him to do to her. He slid two of his fingers inside of her and pressed upwards. He continued to stroke her and his persistent and repetitive attention was again propelling her toward release. He was close to being as incoherent as she was. The only thought on Julian’s mind was that he never wanted to stop tasting her. When her orgasm took hold of her, Alana was loud, shouting his name.

  Raising himself over her, he entered her again. He kept her legs over his shoulders and Alana’s body molded itself to his.

  “Don’t stop. I need you.” She had her arms stretched above her head and his driving movements were lifting her off the floor. Only her shoulders were touching the rug.

  With his hands on her hips Julian leaned forward, not being gentle as he moved in her. “The sight of you…I can’t take it.” Alana’s hair was spread out around her and she licked her lower lip. Her gaze was on him. Julian’s breathing escaped him in loud gasps. “Come for me again, Alana.”

  When Julian’s release seized him, the intensity of it drove his body forward, against Alana. He was somewhat aware of her hands on him, her arms enfolding him, her lips on his temple. His throat felt dry and he swallowed several times. His head was tucked under Alana’s chin and her arms and legs were wrapped around his quivering body. Julian couldn’t shake the realization he was right where he wanted to be. She was again caressing his hair but now her touch had become soothing, gentler. The feeling of it sent shivers down his spine. With her heartbeat against his ear, he didn’t want to open his eyes. Julian felt blissful. He was still inside of her and all the muscles in his body were telling him not to move.

  “Julian,” Alana whispered into his hair, “I want to tell you everything. I want you to know me better than anyone else. But I can’t…I can’t tell you.”

  He wasn’t expecting her to make such confession. It caught him by surprise. “What would happen if you told me?”

  “I wouldn’t be able to see you again.”

  “I don’t want that to happen, Alana.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “If knowing the truth means not having you,” he paused, kissing her lips, “I don’t want to know.”

  Julian closed his arms around Alana and, holding her against him, stood up. He carried her to the walk-in shower of his en suite bathroom. Closing the glass door behind them, he put her down and turned on the hot water. She was standing in front of him, under the stream coming from the large shower-head and, grabbing the bar of soap, Julian ran his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, over her breasts, around her waist. His touch was slow, attentive, with silent reverence. The steam around them was increasing, making the walk-in shower feel smaller. They were shrouded in a thick and heavy cloud of heat.

  With water falling on his head and cascading down his face and body, Julian kneeled at her feet, continuing to run his hands down her legs. Moving his wet hair out of his face, he looked up at her.

  Alana was watching him.

  Flowing down her small body, the water was washing away the rich layer of soap from her skin. That’s when he realized she was crying. Getting back on his feet, Julian closed his arms around her. He rested his cheek on her head. Her body weaved with her suppressed sobs and he held her as tig
htly as he could against his chest.

  “Shhh. It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I promise. I’ll never let you go.” As soon as he spoke he finally understood why he was drawn to Alana. He was in trouble.

  Chapter 17

  Meredith stared down at a tall stack of blueberry pancakes. They had sounded good when she was going over the menu, but now she realized she wasn’t even hungry.

  “I guess I don’t have to wonder why you wanted to meet,” Pam said.

  Pouring maple syrup on the pancakes, Meredith watched the thick, amber colored liquid drip and pool on her plate. “If you thought it was about Julian then you must suck at your job.”

  Pam slammed her coffee mug on the tabletop, causing Meredith to look up. “Dammit, Meredith, will you ever respect me and my time?”

  “When will you believe I’m old enough to make my own decisions and stop acting like I do things just to spite you?” She had managed to get maple syrup on her fingers and now her cutlery was sticking to her hands. Suddenly, she wished she were anywhere but there, sitting across from her sullen stepmother with a large plate of food under her nose that was becoming more unappetizing by the second.

  “Listen, what do you want to tell me?” Pam continued to drink her coffee. “I want to get home before midnight.”

  Meredith reached inside of her purse and passed Pam a piece of paper with two names written on it. “I need you find these two women for me. Sofia and Tatiana Dulgorukova. They might go by Sofia and Tatia.”

  Taking it from Meredith, Pam frowned. “You know them?”

  “You could say that. Please, I just need an address. That’s it. But if you can’t find an address, I will take whatever you can find.” She had first asked Colton but Pam had the power and the connections to get the information she needed faster and more efficiently.

  “I don’t have time for this, Meredith.”

  “I know that lately I have been asking you for a lot of favors but they are my friends and I’m worried about them. Please, Pam?” This time, Meredith didn’t feel any pangs of guilt for lying.

  “I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise anything.” Pam waved at the waitress and asked for the bill. “You didn’t have to bring me here to ask me to do this,” she said, turning to Meredith. “A phone call or an email would have done the job.”

  “Sofia and Tatia were one of the reasons why I asked you to meet me. There’s something else,” Meredith said.

  “Which is…?” Pam stopped talking when the waitress approached the table with the bill.

  “I saw someone at The Raven Room,” Meredith continued. “I think he’s a member.”

  “Who?” Pam asked impatiently. “Just tell me.”

  “Thompson. Steven Thompson.”

  Meredith saw the shock on Pam’s face.

  “He was with a woman and the way he was interacting with her, I don’t know, it just looked off.”

  “Do you know this woman? Is she one of these?” Pam asked, looking at the piece of paper Meredith had given her.

  “No, she’s not. All I know is her first name, Alana. And that she works at a bookstore called Bucket O’ Blood.” Meredith didn’t tell her stepmother that she got that information through Julian. She hoped that Pam would uncover more on Alana.

  “Can you describe her to me?”

  “I would say early twenties, petite, long red hair…that’s all I can remember. Are you surprised Thompson goes to The Raven Room?”

  “Thompson is the least of my worries.” She cleared her throat. “So what’s going on with you? You haven’t stopped by the house in a while.”

  “Been busy with school.”

  “Are you still seeing Reeve?”

  Meredith took a piece of pancake into her mouth. She had been expecting her stepmother to make a comment about Julian so she was prepared with an answer. “When it comes to Julian, you and I will never see eye to eye,” Meredith said with a resolute expression. “Nothing I or anyone else says will ever change your opinion.”

  “I know you have your mind set on writing that article but you need to reconsider. It’s a bad idea.”

  “Where are the files on Julian before he was adopted?”

  He had told Meredith about his past but she still wanted Pam to give her the remaining information on him. Maybe she would find something that he hadn’t shared with her.

  “I have been too busy working on a case. But I'll make sure to get the files, don’t worry.”

  Meredith concentrated on eating her pancakes. “Which case?”

  “You know I don’t talk about the cases I work on.” Pam replied. “Did you hear what I said about you writing the article on Reeve and The Raven Room?”

  “I did. But I don’t want to talk about work either.”

  “I think it’s time for me to go,” Pam finally said, grabbing her jacket and purse.

  “Please keep me posted on what you find on those women.” Meredith dipped a piece of her pancakes in the maple syrup. “And good luck with your case.”

  “As I said before, can’t promise anything but I’ll see what I can do.” Pam was now standing by the table, getting ready to leave. “Sometimes I worry…what type of people are you associating yourself with?”

  Meredith laughed. “People like you, Pam. Real people.”

  Finally by herself, Meredith took a deep breath. She sat back in her seat and she noticed the bill was still on the table. It seemed that Pam thought she should pay for her coffee.

  At that moment her phone buzzed. The head of her program had emailed her—she had spoken to Isaac Croswell, an editor friend of hers at the Chicago Tribune, about her investigative piece on The Raven Room and he wanted to meet with her. As she stared at Isaac Croswell’s contact information, Meredith felt conflicted. Turning down that opportunity would be counterproductive but if she did go ahead and contact him, she would be undeniably betraying Julian. Discussing him and The Raven Room with Pam was one thing; revealing to the world private details about Julian’s life and her experiences at The Raven Room was something completely different.

  When a text from Julian came up on screen, Meredith almost gasped. He wanted to know if she was free. For Julian to be contacting her at that time, it could only mean two things. He either wanted sex or he needed to talk. Regardless, she was up for both. She texted Julian back, telling him she was at Little Goat Diner eating a bottomless plate of pancakes. He quickly responded that he would be joining her.

  In less than twenty minutes she saw Julian walk through the door.

  “Why are you here at this time eating pancakes by yourself?”

  “I could ask you why you are here at this time, watching me eat pancakes, couldn’t I?”

  Julian smiled, sitting across from her in the booth. “Good point.”

  Since she had known Julian he had always kept his hair short but it was obvious he hadn’t gotten a hair cut in a while. The dark stubble covering his jaw suggested he had also skipped shaving that morning. Julian had always looked older than he was but right now he appeared haggard. “Sorry to be so blunt, but you look like shit.”

  Julian rubbed his eyes. “I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with you.”

  “Too much work? Not eating? What’s going on?”

  Running his hand through his already disheveled hair, he yawned. “A mix of both. I have been working long hours at the hospital.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

  “The nightmares?”

  He nodded. “Pretty bad.”

  “Have you ever thought about seeking help? I know you’re a shrink but when it comes to that, I don’t think you can do much for yourself.”

  “I have in the past. Not recently.”

  “What triggered the nightmares to become so bad?”

  Julian shook his head.

  “Really?” she said, realizing he wasn’t planning on giving her an answer. “You’re going to show up here at almost midnight looking th
e way you do, interrupting my special pancake moment, and refuse to answer my simple question?”

  “C’mon, why are you here?” he asked with a scowl, shifting the focus of the conversation back to her.

  Meredith groaned and sunk further into her seat. “I came here to meet my stepmom.”

  “Ah…I see. Hence the pancakes.”

  “Yes, hence the pancakes.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Don’t turn the tables on me, Julian. We were talking about you.”

  “Right now I don’t feel like talking about myself.”

  “Too bad. You joined me here, didn’t you?”

  With his forearms on the table he let his head fall between his shoulders. Neither of them spoke for a while. When Julian lifted his eyes to Meredith, he was smiling. “You should consider becoming a psychologist. You would be amazing at it.”

  “Don’t try to distract me with compliments. What’s going on?”

  It was his turn to groan. Waiting for him to reply, she continued to work on her plate of pancakes.

  “Alana is what’s going on,” Julian finally said, his voice low and full of frustration.

  “Alana, huh?”

  “Yes…listen, I don’t want to talk about her.”

  “Because you’re also sleeping with me and you happen to have feelings for her?”

  “I never said I had feelings for her…and why did you just say that?”

  “You know why.”

  “I actually don’t.”

  “You believe it’s unfair to me for you to sit here and talk to me about another woman. Please don’t deny it.”

  “I don’t want to disrespect you.”

  “That might be true. But more than that, you believe I have feelings for you and you’re afraid I’ll turn into a bunny boiler.”

  “Do you have feelings for me?” he asked, watching her closely.

  Meredith continued to focus on eating her pancakes. “I do care for you. Do I love you? I don’t know.” She licked some maple syrup from her lower lip. “You’re a man easy to fall in love with but a hard one to love,” she added, raising her eyes to meet his.

  Julian didn’t reply.