by B. B. Hamel
“You didn’t wake me up?”
“We have a long night ahead of us. Thought you needed the sleep.”
I stared at Emory as the fear slowly subsided. I felt a little silly for being so afraid and quick to assume the worst.
In fact, I was a little more than surprised to see him feeding Mason. Emory was not a father, and he didn’t seem to have a single nurturing instinct. The fact that he’d found a bottle and fed Mason was amazing.
I walked over to him, holding my arms out. “Here. I can take him.”
“It’s fine. I’ve got him.”
“You don’t have to do that, Emory.”
He shrugged. “He’s my kid. Might as well.”
“You don’t owe me or him anything.”
“Maybe,” he grunted, “though I did get you into this.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
He stared at me, his eyes hard. “I could have. We don’t get close to people often, and for good reason. Shit like this tends to happen to people when we get near them.”
I stared at him, surprised by his intensity. “You couldn’t have known this would happen to a one-night stand.”
“It happened, and that’s all that matters.”
I gently took Mason and the bottle from him. Mason stirred but continued placidly drinking from his bottle. “Did you get any rest?”
“Not really,” he said, standing. “We have to leave soon.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“We’re driving straight to Indianapolis tonight. We’ll stay at the safe house tonight.”
“Okay. Sure.”
“Be ready in fifteen.” He turned and left the room.
I watched the door for a minute, shaking my head. He went from wanting to feed Mason to suddenly being all about business.
Sleeping with him had been a mistake, and we both knew it. Sure, it had felt good, but things were complicated enough as it was. We didn’t need to add that sort of tension into the mix, not when we could easily avoid it.
I just needed to keep my hands off him, which was hard when all I wanted to do was to reach down his pants and feel his thick, hard cock. I wanted to feel the way I did with him pressing himself deep inside me, his hands all over my body, his dirty words in my ears.
But I couldn’t let myself forget why we were running to begin with. There were men after us, men who wanted to kill us. They were all too real.
I rocked Mason and finished feeding him not too long later. Most of my things were still down in the car, so all I needed to do was gather up Mason and his stuff. Then we’d be ready to go.
Emory came back into the room wordlessly not long later and helped me finish packing. Once that was done, we stood together in the living room. He looked at me with a frown on his face.
“Listen,” he said. “Things might get pretty dangerous from here. I don’t really know where this is going.”
“I trust you,” I said. “You may be a cocky asshole, but you saved us.”
He nodded. “Call your parents. Say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?”
“I don’t know how long we need to be in hiding.”
I bit my lip, nervous. “Okay.”
He dug an old flip phone out of his pocket. “This is a burner. When you’re done, we’ll get rid of it.”
I took the phone from him and walked a few steps away, Mason under my arm. I dialed my home number and my mom answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mom,” I said. “It’s me.”
“Oh, honey. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m still with Emory. How are you?”
There was a short pause. “About as good as you’d guess, after seeing that.”
“Yeah. I understand.”
“There are people here, you know, cleaning up. That man Cooper is also staying with us. He seems like he knows what he’s doing.”
“Good, Mom. I’m glad.”
“When are you coming back?”
“Emory doesn’t know,” I said. “It could be a while.”
There was another pause. “I hate this. I wish we could call the police.”
“We can’t,” I said. “Trust them, Mom. They’ve kept us safe so far.”
“You’re right. Your father wants to speak to you.”
“Okay. I love you.” But she had already passed the phone off.
“Tara?”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Listen, I just wanted to say that I was sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“It’s okay. We’re way past that now.”
“I know, honey. Stay safe.”
“I will. I’m with Emory.”
“Yes, Emory. The cause of all this.”
I sighed. He wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t being fair.
“Dad.”
“Okay. I love you, honey.”
“I love you too.”
I hung up the phone.
Emory looked at me. “Everything good?”
I held the phone out to him. “Good.”
He took the phone and then smashed it onto the ground. He slammed his heel down on it, destroying the phone.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
He grinned at me. “Why so jumpy, princess?”
“Warn me next time,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“Maybe. I’d rather just scare you.”
I shook my head. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Whatever you say, princess.”
I headed out, down toward the car, Emory carrying Mason’s things just behind me.
I couldn’t blame my dad for being angry about all this. I was a little angry, too. Things were more complicated for me though, considering Emory was the father of my child.
And not to mention the way Emory made me feel. Excitement was an understatement; Emory sent electric fire down my veins.
How could I hate a man who made me feel that way?
We headed out toward the car, and nervousness flickered through my stomach.
Chapter 16
Emory
We didn’t talk much as we got into the car, strapped Mason down in his car seat in the back, and hit the open road.
I didn’t drive too fast. Travis was trailing us, making sure nobody was following, or at least trying to. Travis was good at what he did, but after this morning I was beginning to think that Omar was more dangerous than I had thought. The men in his cell weren’t all that well trained, but Omar himself knew what he was doing, and he could carry the group to new heights.
Which was incredibly dangerous for us. Earlier, I woke up to the sound of Mason’s crying coming through the baby monitor. I looked at Tara, sleeping soundly, and quickly switched it off. I couldn’t wake her up, not when I knew that the most difficult part of this was still ahead of us. So long as Omar was out there, I knew we were in for more violence and fear, more blood.
I could tell something was on her mind as we drove, but I didn’t press. I didn’t think it was my place, but more than that, I was worried I was tangling myself too closely with her. I needed to be able to remain objective, to make decisions that were best for everyone. If she began to get into my head and cloud my mind, I didn’t know what might happen.
I had to face it though. That had already fucking happened. The girl had lodged herself so deeply in my mind that I could barely think of anything other than her sweet pussy. That look on her face as I fucked her until she came returned to my mind over and over again, and every time it sent a sharp thrill down my spine.
The only thing I wanted was to make her feel that way again. I wanted to sink my cock deep between her legs and make her moan.
And then there was Mason. My son. I didn’t know what I wanted with him, what he meant to me, but when I held him in my arms and fed him that bottle, I felt something inside me that I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. I’d thought that part of me had died out on the battlefield, but apparently it hadn’t.
; I’d become hardened over the years. Battle after battle and countless deaths, many of them by my own hands, had scarred me. And those scars had healed hard, making me tough, making it hard to really injure me. You could hurt my body, but I thought nobody could hurt my soul.
Until I held that baby and fed him at least. And then I was beginning to question absolutely everything.
It was getting late as we sped down the highway. I hadn’t seen Travis in about an hour, but that meant he was just scanning along in front or behind us. I wished I had a less conspicuous car, but I had to admit that I loved the speed and the power at my disposal.
I checked the clock. “How about a rest stop?” I said to Tara.
She looked up at me, almost surprised that I had spoken. “Uh, sure. I thought we were driving straight there?”
“I need to make a call. We’re close.”
“Fine. Whatever you need.”
I kept my eyes on the road. “I know this is hard. Just trust me.”
“I keep saying that I do.”
“I know what you say, but I really only care about what you do.”
“And what am I doing wrong?”
“Nothing. Yet. Sooner or later, though, you’re going to want to disobey something. Resist that temptation.”
“I’m sorry, but is this the part of the night where you’re an asshole for no reason?”
I grinned at her. “Everything I do has a reason.”
“I doubt that.”
“Why?”
“What about earlier then? Was there reason behind that?”
“Sure. I wanted your fucking nice little pussy, so I took it.”
She made a face. “You didn’t take anything.”
“You’re right. I gave you what you wanted, too.”
“Now you’re just lying.”
Suddenly, going around eighty miles an hour, I pulled off the highway and headed down to a rest stop off-ramp. The ramp was designed for cars going much slower, and so we were pulling pretty fast and hard, tires screeching along the pavement. Tara clutched onto the dash, eyes wide as I took the ramp going way too fast, screaming toward the lot.
“Holy shit!” she said.
I hit the brakes, cutting the speed, and swung easily into the parking lot. She stared at me as I parked, her eyes wide. “What the hell was that for?” she asked.
“If we are being followed, hopefully that threw them off.”
“Warn me next time.”
“And miss that look on your face? No, thanks.”
She shook her head. “Asshole.” She climbed out of the car and checked on Mason, who seemed totally fine.
I watched her head off toward the building. I pulled open the center console and pulled out another burner phone. I flipped it open and dialed a number.
“Blackfire.”
“Sir, it’s Emory.”
“I hear you had some trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Three white American nationals, radicalized, part of Omar’s cell I assume. I tried to keep one alive for questioning, but things got out of hand.”
“They tend to with civilians around.”
“Sir, we’re currently headed toward the safe house in Indianapolis.”
“Good. Keep me informed.”
“One more thing, sir. Permission to speak freely?”
He laughed. “When did that ever stop you?”
“I think something else is going on here,” I said. “I find it hard to believe that Omar would waste three valuable assets like that just to attack me.”
“So do I,” Blackfire said. “There’s a reason he’s in America, but we just don’t know that reason yet.”
“I’d like permission to follow this up,” I said.
“What about the girl and the child?”
I paused. What about them?
“They can be assigned to another team member,” I said slowly.
And they’d probably be better off.
I was just too compromised. I was getting in too deep with Tara, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had to distance myself, if not for her sake, then for Mason’s.
It would be best for everyone.
“Permission denied,” Blackfire said.
“Sir, I don’t think I’m the best man for this job.”
“You’re the best man period, Emory,” he said. “You know that as well as I do.”
“I’m too close to this.”
“Even better. You’re on American soil, soldier. You’re not in Pakistan or in the jungle. You can’t think like a normal SEAL right now. You need to be smarter.”
“How does being too close to this help?”
“It means you’re going to think before you react. Son, you and your men are all highly trained fucking killing machines. You usually don’t think; you just react according to how we’ve shaped you. But in this situation, I need your head on your shoulders. Do you understand?”
I paused, not answering at first. That made sense, to a degree. He was right that we typically reacted to situations based on what our training dictated. In almost every situation I’d ever been in, my training had been absolutely correct.
And he was right that this situation was unusual. I was a combat-trained, special forces operative, not a domestic counter-terrorist. I was meant to operate abroad, killing America’s enemies with righteous fury.
“Yes, sir,” I said grudgingly.
“Stay with the girl and the child,” he said. “Continue the mission. That’s an order, soldier.”
“Yes, sir.”
He hung up the phone.
I let a slow breath out and tossed my burner out the window.
Blackfire knew what he was doing. He’d been a SEAL back in the day, and now he was one of the most respected commanders in the entire military.
Maybe he had a point. Maybe being close to Tara and Mason was necessary to do this job correctly. At least, if he really thought that I were compromised, he would pull me out of this mission in a second. Blackfire wasn’t the type of man to take chances.
I sat in the car, thinking over the next few days. I knew what needed to be done. I just needed to figure out what to do with Tara.
Other than what I wanted to do. If I could have it my way, I’d take her to this safe house and fuck her mindless every single day. We’d take care of Mason until he fell asleep, and then we’d fuck until he woke up again. I’d do that day in and day out, and I knew I’d never get tired of her tight pussy wrapped around my thick, hard cock.
But I couldn’t have that. I had a mission, and that mission was simple. I had to keep them safe. But more than that, I had to stop Omar Hooth from doing whatever it was he was going to do.
Finally, Tara and Mason came back from the rest stop building. Tara opened the door and wordlessly got Mason back into his car seat. She climbed back up front and sat down next to me.
“Not going in?” she asked.
“Don’t need to.”
“Do they train you SEALs to have magic bladders or something?” she asked.
I grinned at her. “That’s right. They teach us to have full mastery of our cocks.”
That got a small grin from her, but it quickly disappeared. “Let’s go,” she said. “Mason is going to start getting cranky soon. I want to get him down.”
I fired up the engine. “You got it, princess.”
I pulled out and headed back onto the highway. I heard anther one of my many burner phones buzz and saw that it was a message from Travis.
Omar followed, but I lost him. Proceed with caution.
“Fuck,” I said out loud.
“What?” Tara asked.
I clenched my jaw. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I tossed the phone back into the console and shut it.
So Omar really had followed us. I’d expected him to, but I wasn’t sure.
It would have made sense if he’d stayed behind in Dayton. It seemed as though there was something important there. But maybe all of this really wa
s just some cheap revenge ploy, a way for him to regain some of his lost honor.
The night stretched on ahead of us as we drove. We were only a half hour away, but I needed to be careful. I couldn’t lead Omar back to the safe house, otherwise it wouldn’t be safe anymore.
As we pulled into Indianapolis, I knew our journey wasn’t quite over yet.
“We’re going to need to drive some more,” I said to Tara.
“What? Why?”
“That message earlier, it was from Travis. Omar followed us.”
“Oh,” she said. “Shit.”
“We can’t lead him right to the safe house. We’re going to have to drive around, make sure nobody is tailing us.”
“Yeah, okay. Fine. How long will that take?”
I smirked at her. “Got somewhere to be?”
“Sorry. I just want to make sure Mason is okay.”
“I get you. Shouldn’t be long.”
And so we went on a nice tour of Indianapolis. I pulled out every trick in the book, did every possible maneuver I could think of. I couldn’t spot anyone following us, but I likely wouldn’t if it were Omar doing the following. He was too good to be spotted even by someone with my skill level.
No, this was the best that I could do. I could sense Tara’s anxiety next to me, but I couldn’t acknowledge it. I wanted Mason to be as comfortable as possible, but I also wanted Tara to remain alive as long as possible.
Who knew what would happen to Tara if Omar got his hands on her.
Finally, after another half hour of fast turns, running lights, and basically insane driving, I pulled up outside the safe house. I parked the car and we climbed out.
“Home sweet home,” I said.
“It’s a dump.”
I laughed. “You’re right.”
The safe house was a crumbling row home in a line of crumbling row homes in a pretty bad neighborhood, but it was safe and presumably furnished inside.
“After you, princess,” I said to her.
She reached into the car, got Mason, and headed up the stoop.
I followed, my stomach a knot. I was worried I was too close to this, worried that Omar had followed, and worried about what was going to happen with Mason.
I was going to have to pull my shit together.
I had work to do.
