by Korry Smith
I grinned, overjoyed at the thought of being a single unit with Alex, but the feeling didn’t last long and the words he slapped me with six hours ago sidelined my happiness.
“But I’m the one who fucks things up, remember?”
“I shouldn’t have fucking said that.”
“But it’s true.” I nudged my head into the crook of his neck and entangled our legs together. “I’m reckless and immature and—"
“You believe all that shit then, yeah?” Alex’s muscles tensed, squeezing, and contracting, as his hand gripped my waist. There wasn’t much space between us, every inch of our skin flushed. “Out of everything I’ve told you, that’s what you believe?”
My heart was pounding, a rush of powerful emotions in my veins—anger, love, hate, lust…all of it there, multiplying and getting stronger.
“It’s not like I want to believe that. Up until yesterday, I thought we were a team, but you purposely chose to leave me out of it.”
“Enough, Madi! I get it.” He kicked off the sheets and sat on the edge of the mattress. “I’m a shitty boyfriend.”
“You’re not!” I shot up and reached over to comfort him.
“I know it’s a piss-poor excuse for lying to you, but it’s easier to be a dick than tell you what’s fucking going on. The less you know about this shit, the better.”
My hand froze, inches from his back, and I glared. “Better for whom?”
Alex bent down and picked up a pair of his jeans, searching through the pockets and pulling the inner lining out. He cursed under his breath and threw them to the floor.
“Where are my God damn smokes?”
“Better for whom?”
He was frantic and crazed now, turning to the bedside table, yanking the drawers out and rummaging through them. I’d continued to ask him the same question, over and over, louder than the last, until I’d reached my limit.
“Hey, asshole!” I shouted, slapping him on the shoulder.
“What?” He swung around with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
He didn’t hear a damn word I said.
“You know what, never mind, you’re right.” I got off the bed. “It is a piss-poor excuse for being a shitty boyfriend.”
Naked and vulnerable, I snagged one of Alex’s discarded t-shirts off a chair and pulled the worn cotton over my head. The smell of him that lingered there was unexpected, and it ambushed my sanity. My sickness for Alex took over. Even though I was furious, having a part of him on me was a necessity, like breathing.
“You’re back to leaving me again?” He followed my pace around the room.
I wanted to laugh.
“No, I’ll kill you long before I fucking leave you.”
“I bet you would.” He smiled, only to wipe it from his face within the next second.
If I hadn’t been watching him with absorbed concentration, I might have missed it.
“What else have you been keeping from me?” All the tiny moments in our relationship brought into question now. I shook my head in disbelief. “Is anything real?”
“Yes,” he said with a heavy sigh, sliding the cigarette behind his ear, and holding his hand out to me. “We’re real.”
I stopped and narrowed my eyes, not wanting to give into his touch, but it was one in the morning, and the energy to sustain a decent fight with him was daunting.
“Damn it,” I whispered, taking the bait.
Alex pulled me down next to him, rubbing his hand up and down my leg.
I hated myself for being weak and hated him for being so fucking cute.
“Listen to me.” He applied a gentle squeeze to my thigh. “I’ve been on my own since I was twelve.”
“Okay...?” I had no fucking clue where he was going with this.
“Even with Sawyer and Len in my corner,” he continued, “I never had to worry about them. Their lives didn’t affect mine.”
“But that’s the thing; yours affects mine!” I rose from my spot on the bed and settled down on his lap. There was skin to skin contact, bare and heated, arousing and provoking. “My whole fucking world revolves around you, and all I want is you to be equally consumed by me.”
I felt him twitch, and he closed his eyes to keep his focus. Clutching my shirt, practically ripping it off, he spoke through clenched jaw, “Mad, you have to understand some things—"
“No, Alex! It’s you and me or nothing. I want us to be a family, and no one outside of that should matter—not Dev or Len or Sawyer.”
His eyes snapped open. “You want me to drop our family?”
“When it comes to exclusivity? Yes, I do.”
He was quietly debating my terms, head downcast and chewing the shit out of his lip ring. I wanted to pull that fucking thing out of his mouth with my teeth.
“I should be the first one to know things, not the last. It’s a clingy and selfish request, but I don’t fucking care. That’s what I want.” I rocked my hips into him, eliciting a throaty groan. “Can you give me that?”
“That’s the problem. You’ve been my everything since that first night we met.” He gazed up at me with eyes so open and sincere, but also, there was unspoken resentment. “It scares the fucking shit out of me.”
“Which part of this equation scares you?”
He waved his hand at me.
It threw me for a second, not knowing what he meant, but allowing my brain to ponder wasn’t good for anybody.
I went far south with it.
“So, what?” The anger was pulsating in my skull. “Is being a committed, one-woman man terrifying to you?”
“What?” He was shaking his head. “Madi—fuck! That’s not what I meant.”
It was too late; I was running with it. Jealousy was overpowering me, masking the hurt. I’d given everything to this man: my life, my purity, and my soul.
“Well, I’m sorry you feel like you’re tied down to me and just can’t go out there and fuck whomever you want!” I pushed myself up as the thought of him kissing and touching another girl made me sick to my stomach.
“Get your ass back here!” He grabbed my hips with a painful grip and forced me down on his lap. “God damn, woman. I only want to fuck you.”
“Then what is it?” I sagged into him, our breathing coinciding as one. “Why would wanting to be with me scare you?”
“Because,” Alex said slowly, staring up at me with these dark and pained eyes. “If something ever happened and I was to lose you.”
“But you’re not going to lose me.”
“And how can I guarantee that? You threaten to leave me all the fucking time.”
“I already told you, I’d kill you first.”
There was a hint of a smile, but it was short-lived. Alex groaned, low and frustrated, dropping his forehead to my chest and wrapping his arms around me.
“I don’t want to talk about losing you anymore, okay?”
“Okay…” I combed my fingers through his hair. “What do you want?”
“You,” he whispered, his hands coming up and engulfing my face.
He brought me down into a kiss, pressing his lips to mine. They were patient and unhurried, yet earnest and wanting.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said between kisses as he slipped his hands underneath my shirt.
Distraction was his game, and I fell for it every time.
“Oh, yeah?” He pulled that annoying piece of fabric off me and threw it to the floor.
My breath caught as his fingers moved upwards on my damp skin, lightly traveling along my ribcage and breasts, gently rolling his thumb over my nipples. He peered up at me, and I watched as he leaned in and took me into his mouth. The tip of his tongue lolled over the peak, teeth grazing and biting me. I whimpered, rocking, and swaying my hips into him.
Nothing was separating us, both bare and aroused. Alex was hard and wedged between my thighs, coaxing, and sliding, and with every small shift of our bodies, his cock piercing would rub up against my clit.
It all became unbearable.
I needed him.
Rising to my knees, I reached down and grasped a firm hold of the shaft, stroking and guiding him inside. It was instant, and feeling of wholeness took over, my muscles clenched, tightly wrapping around him. Alex’s head fell back, and he moaned. The pleasure on his face, caused by my pussy, ignited this crazy, and overwhelming passion from within me.
I was ravenous.
Yanking him by his hair, I commanded him back to me and captured his mouth, kissing him deep and fervent. He responded by grasping my waist and lifting my body up, directing me down on his cock into natural and gradual motion. My guy was tender and deliberate with each stroke, pulling all the way out, only to push back in, each time his progression was gentle and painstakingly slower than the last.
Panting softly against his parted lips, I felt the heat crash over me like a tidal wave. My love and devotion, need and obsession for this man was blending and overlapping each other, creating an explosive mix.
I tried to quicken the pace; needing more, craving more, but Alex would still my movements by adding extra pressure on my hips. He smiled as I pouted, and repeatedly told me to slow down.
Riding out the stride he set, I clutched his shoulders for leverage and pushed myself upward. He brushed the hair from my face, and every so often, he would glide his thumb over my bottom lip before kissing me.
Then there was a shift, and it changed everything.
When we locked eyes, I would catch glimpses of Alex’s dominance over my soul and body, and it was sexy as hell, but there was something more to the way he looked at me. It was unexpected and earth-shattering. The sheer devotion hidden behind the vivid blues, revealing itself for the first time, stole my breath.
I knew Alex loved me but seeing how much he loved me was emotionally devastating. It heightened everything I was feeling at that moment, sending my world into a tailspin. Suddenly, he was too bright, like staring at the sun, and I had to look away.
Breaking the gaze, I hid my face in the security of his neck, and breathed him in. That only furthered my demise. The assault of his love was everywhere and made me unsteady. I closed my eyes, so painfully tight, begging and pleading for the tears not to roll.
Be strong, kid.
Don’t fall apart.
Alex stopped moving and rubbed my back, fully aware of the abrupt change in me. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head, feeling the tears betray me as they burst through and streamed down my cheek.
“Bullshit!”
Putting his arms around me into a bear hug, he rose to his feet and spun around to lay me down on the bed. He was still firmly situated between my legs, and when he tried to pull out, I clung to him, crying like a stupid, overly emotional girl. He didn’t fight, conceding to my every whim and lying on top of me.
He whispered into my ear, “Do you want to stop?”
“No,” I said in a soft, timid voice. “Please…just…hold me.”
“Okay.” He snaked his arms around me and pressed our bodies together.
Waiting for a moment, unsure if he should continue, I shifted my hips up and rocked into him, clueing him into what I wanted and craved.
Alex pushed forward and eased all his length into me.
This time I didn’t want to rush it.
The need for him was always there but in a different way. It wasn’t just sex anymore. He filled me to the hilt and struck the fire, bursting it into an inferno of sensations, overwhelming me with pleasures that only ever burned for him.
I knew with every kiss, soft and longing, and every thrust, deep and penetrating, that outside forces could never disrupt how close we were.
He was mine.
I was his.
The two orphans finally found a family.
Today was the last day I’d be in Saint Louis with Alex, and it was kind of bittersweet. It was a beautiful city, and I’d wished we could’ve stayed longer, but we were criminals, wanted by the law, and doing the mundane act of tourism in public wasn’t possible for us.
In an hour, around ten-thirty, we were going to leave this hotel as Nickie and Cecilia Wallis. Around eleven-forty-five, we’ll enter the first bank in Wildwood, a suburb southwest of the city, to close an account. After that, Nickie and Cecilia will jump around the state of Missouri, visiting various banks in various towns, and close those accounts. By the time the sun goes down in the west, Mr. and Mrs. Wallis will be worth over twenty million.
It was easy money.
By midnight, two people, unknown to anybody, names still undecided, will enter a Springfield airport and catch the red-eye to Mexico City. The passports and identification would be flawless, unmistakable, and security won’t even bat an eye. They’ll let the couple through, not knowing who they had, and never see them again.
Madison Perez and Alex Ryan would be nothing but a memory after this day. The only thing confirming our existence would be the ongoing news coverage of our crimes on TV.
“Well, I see you two have made up,” Adriana said.
I blinked a couple of times, coming out of my thoughts and staring at her reflection in the mirror. “What?”
She chuckled, pressing a finger into the dark purple bruise on my neck, one in a series of clusters. “The love bites?”
God, I forgot about those. Alex was like a damn vacuum.
My face turned a bright red. “Can you cover it?”
“Let’s see what I can do.” Giving a sweet and caring smile, she reached into her makeup bag to pull out concealer and foundation.
After a few hours under her care, she stepped back from me and revealed my makeover.
“What do you think?”
I didn’t look like me, that’s for sure. The make-up was flawless with the heavy eyeshadow and red lips. My hair smoothed out and a glossy black with a violet tint. Alex suggested the dye job. He said it was best if we went to the bank looking different from our usual appearance.
Which I understood, but the color was an odd choice. Don’t most men want their women to go blonde?
“It’s…” I faltered on my words.
“You hate it?”
“No!” I stood up to get the full view of Lorelei’s dress. It was larger in the bust, but other than that, it fit me well. The color was a dark royal blue. “I feel weird without my chucks.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved black stilettos into my hands. “Put these on.”
“What happens if I sprang my ankle running in these?” I held onto the chair for support and slipped into one heel at a time.
“I’ll carry you,” Alex chimed in as he came into the room.
I swung around, blinded by the incoming sun, and I had to squint to see somewhat of an outline of him in the doorway. He chuckled, noticing my difficulty, and closed out the light.
Once my eyes adjusted, I stopped breathing.
Alex stood there, with a devilish smirk, dressed in his father’s slim-fitting two-button Prada suit. He was tall and lean, and it fit him like a fucking glove, but seeing him that way, clean shaven and businessman attire, wasn’t what caused my heart to skip a few beats. The once unruly, black hair was now blond and cut short. He slicked it back with pomade, and all traces of the outlaw I’d grown to love was gone, wiped away and replaced with a smarmy politician.
“Holy fucking shit!” My legs went weak as I lost my balance. The shoe I was holding dropped to the carpet, and I wobbled, causing Alex to cross the room with one giant stride and catch me.
He laughed, holding me up and shaking his head. “I didn’t mean you should break your fucking ankle now.”
The steely eyes and crooked grin were the same, but everything else was so reminiscent of an old memory.
“You look like your dad,” I blurted out.
“Good.” He squeezed my hand and helped me to an upright position.
I stared in awe of his transformation. Even the tattooed stars he had on the right side of his neck was gone
and masked by the foundation. He noticed me gawking, and his brows knitted together as he chewed on his bottom lip, sans piercing.
“It freaks you out, yeah?”
I shook my head, catching a hint of my reflection in the mirror, and suddenly the hair color he chose for me made sense. I knew what he was hoping to carry out.
“We’re going as your parents, aren’t we?”
“Why not?” He escorted me to the bed and squatted down to slip the heel on my foot. “We’ve got their clothes, and soon, we’ll have all their money.”
“Laundered money,” I said as Alex inched higher and higher up my leg. My eyes shot a wary look over at the closed bathroom door, waiting for Adriana to come waltzing out.
“All the more reason to steal it.” He ghosted his fingers over the fabric of my panties, adding a simple pressure and poke, and driving me up the wall.
Just when I was ready to grab him by that fucking tie and take him there on the bed, his hand retreated, and he rose to his feet. Pouting by protruding my lip out, he leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.
“Are you done here?”
“Yeah,” I said, aroused, but suspicious. “Why?”
“I need you to come with me.”
He took me by the hand and led me outside. Adriana and Peter’s room was six doors down. It was a quick walk, and as we neared it, my guy chose that moment to be sweet.
“You look beautiful.”
I grinned back, running my fingers through his silver tie. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Senator.”
Alex came to an abrupt halt and pushed me up against the wall between the rooms. I didn’t even have a chance to take my next breath before his mouth was on mine, rough and forceful. He gripped my thigh, hiking it up and pressing his hips into me. I grabbed the lapel of the blazer, jerking him closer, and he dug his fingers into my leg, biting my lip and causing both of us to moan.
The prickle of stucco on the wall stabbed my back as Alex leaned all his weight on me. I winced in pain when he attacked my neck, kissing and nibbling the skin. He thrust and slid his hand higher up my dress, palming my ass. I’m lost to everything, bringing his mouth back up to me and kissing him with more vigor.
