Too Long a Soldier (Kingdom Key Book 3)

by TylerRose.

  He stopped moving like he said he would, waited for her to open her eyes and see him.

  “That wasn’t an anxiety panic, baby. That was an orgasm,” he said, beginning again with a slow motion to build her up again.

  “Oh. It felt the same as a panic,” she said, moving with him. “Now I know. Do it again, please.”

  He smiled a toothy smile and kissed her, increasing his speed until she was rising to her next orgasm.

  “Lemme hear it, baby,” he urged into her ear.

  A few more strong drives and she let that sinking panic happen again. A gripping sensation that stole her breath, forced a gruff, surprised sound from her throat. He slowed to let her catch her breath.

  “How’s that work for you?” he grinned.

  “Do it again!” she smiled up at him.

  He happily obliged.

  For the first time in her life,Roc slept in a lover’s arms. Her lover woke her in the morning for more, having her from behind in the quiet dark…and nothing bothered her about it. He was as kind and generous as Tyler had said he was.

  When they were ready to get moving, he took her to breakfast at the Bob Evans on Navarre Avenue, then drove her home. He walked her up to the kitchen to say hello to the group.

  “Call me at one,” Demitrius told her by way of parting. “I’ll be on lunch.”

  She smiled a nod. A kiss goodbye and she watched him jog down the inside steps. Then she all but ran up to Tyler’s room. Landra Ahr blocked her at the stairs.

  “You think it wise to engage in a physical relationship?”

  She glared up at him. “I think it foolish to uphold the standards of a temple millions of miles away that I will never again be part of. I think it stupid to deny myself the comfort of a kind man in the name of a religious institution that has forgotten me. Let me pass.”

  He stepped aside and watched her run up. He was satisfied. It had been her own doing, not coerced by anyone. Not done out of rebellion, but a sincere desire for human contact.

  Roc knocked on Tyler’s door,went in when the handle turned and it cracked open an inch. Being only nine am, Tyler was still in bed. Shoes off, Roc climbed into bed with her.

  “Thank you,” she gushed in a whisper.

  “Yer welcome,” Tyler mumbled. “For what?”

  “Everything. You were right. About all of it. He is a very kind lover.”

  “Good for you both. You can tell me all about it later,” Tyler replied, and fell back to sleep.

  About nine thirty Jerome peeked in to see them both asleep. A brief fantasy and he gave Tyler a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’m going now. Don’t know if I’ll be back today.”

  “Okay. Have a good trip.”

  He turned the little coffee pot on for her before leaving. She woke again at ten. Coffee in hand, wrapped in the robe Gable got her for Christmas, and Roc told all the details.

  “Will you see him today?” Tyler asked over their second pot of coffee, not telling her about her own few weeks with Demetrius in the other timeline.

  “No. He has a meeting at Safe Haven tonight. Probably tomorrow.”

  “You don’t have to have sex every time you’re together,” Tyler said.

  “Oh please! I can see now why the humans are totally obsessed with it. I never questioned it at the Sisterhood. When I am ready, I am not going to do the baby combat. I’m going straight for marriage so I can have sex whenever I want.”

  They laughed together. A lot.

  “Ooh, you helped Star buy underthings and things,” Roc realized. “Would you help me too?”

  “Okay, get my measuring tape. I’m guessing you’re a B cup too, but we need your band size.”

  Thirty two B, to be exact. Size small to medium depending on the cut of a piece.

  Rather than knock on the door or hunt her down, Tyler called Star on the phone. “Roc and I are going shopping for sexy stuff. Wanna come along?”

  “I am so there!”

  “Kitchen in half an hour.”

  Gable let Tyler borrow his Mustang since Jerome had taken the Challenger keys with him and she didn’t have permanent permission to use it anyway.

  “Promise not to get a ticket?” he said, pulling the keys back.

  “Of course,” she replied, palm up and steady in the air.

  The keys moved forward.

  “Promise not to get into an accident?” he asked, pulling back again.

  “I’d slug you in the arm but I know it gives you a hard on,” she replied.

  “You’re just no fun, sis,” he said, placing the keys in her palm.

  “Of course not. I’m only fun for Jerome.”

  A drive full of memories as they went through the city to the Northtowne mall on Alexis at North Detroit Avenue.

  “How will I pay you back?” Roc asked when Tyler pulled out the ATM card Thomas had had waiting for her at the warehouse before returning from the cruise.

  “By enjoying what we’re buying and the man it goes with,” Tyler said, taking the card back.

  Tyler tied a knot in the top of her bag. Walking around a corner, all their bags vanished to her bedroom.

  “I’m hungry. Anyone else hungry?” she asked.

  “Yes!”

  She introduced them to the joys of the lamb gyro (properly pronounced yeeroh, she informed them), curly fries and an orange drink at Olga’s.

  “When are you going to give us the battle plan?” Star asked quietly.

  “I don’t want to talk about it until we’re all together. We’re going to have to get Tony over for dinner.”

  “He came over almost every day while you and Jerome were gone,” Star said.

  “I know. I don’t want to talk about him either.”

  The waitress brought their drinks.

  “When are you and Jerome finally gonna do the big hump already?” Star asked.

  Tyler laughed aloud but turned to Roc. “What else you wanna buy?”

  “I was thinking of changing my hair.”

  “Not the color. He loves the color,” Tyler said.

  “I was thinking the length. Take a good foot off the back and have the front and sides layered instead of all one length.”

  “I thought the sisters aren’t allowed to cut their hair,” Star said.

  “I do not see an ethics panel watching my every move. I don’t think the Sisterhood will care if I cut my hair. Especially if we never go back. So I’m going to live my life instead of sitting alone with a book.”

  “Good for you,” Star said.

  “It’s one o’clock,” Roc realized, and got out her phone.

  “Hey, honey, how are you feeling?” he answered.

  “Terrific. How is your day?”

  “Long but productive. I’m tiling a bathroom in Ottawa Hills.”

  “Sounds profitable,” she said, knowing Ottawa Hills was the rich section of the city.

  He chuckled. “Very. I won’t be able to talk much later. Go to dinner with me tomorrow?”

  “What time?” she asked.

  “I’ll pick you up at six thirty. You decide where we eat.”

  “I will.”

  “I’ve been tasting you all day,” he teased, referring to her introduction to cunnilingus. “I like how you taste.”

  She smiled mutely, blushing bright red.

  “See you tomorrow, honey.”

  “Bye,” she managed, and ignored the stares and exchanged grins around her. Fortunately, their food arrived and gave her time to collect herself.

  Looking up from her plate, Tyler first felt and then saw Julian come into the restaurant. A little too concerned, he took the fourth chair after kissing cheeks. He reached to steal a fry from Tyler’s plate.

  “You did something,” he accused.

  “What did I did?”

  “Won almost two million dollars on a boat,” he said.

  “I did? No! And?”

  “It was noticed.”

  “By whom?” she asked, and took
a bite of the wonderful pita wrapped lamb.

  “Earnol. I put it into the Indigenous’ head that the guy who made her a fake I. D. must have made another for someone else with her name.”

  “They buy it?” Star asked.

  “So far. But it was a close call. Please be more careful, Ty.”

  “I think I’m probably going to be less careful as D-day gets closer,” she admitted. “He’s going to find me out then anyway. We both know it. He’s going to want to confront me and get rid of me. I’m ready for him.”

  “You may be but I’m the one in the direct line of fire. So consider the casualties, will you?”

  “He won’t touch you, Julian. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Unappeased, he looked to Roc with a peculiar expression.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You had sex. Who is he? Was it good?”

  “Julian!” Tyler and Star exclaimed together.

  “Oh, come on. She can hardly think of anything else. Who is he?”

  “Demitrius,” she smiled shyly.

  “Also known as Meechi,” Tyler filled in for him. “He is part owner of Safe Haven with Jerome.”

  “Aah, that makes sense. Everyone gettin’ the high hard one but you. What’s the hold up?” he asked Tyler.

  “Criminetly, Julian, you’re worse than Star,” Tyler scolded him.

  “I cannot help it,” he said. “I brought you this.”

  He produced a small bottle from a pocket inside his jacket and she put it into her purse with a quiet thank you.

  “And I have to go,” he concluded.

  Kisses to cheeks and he walked away rather than porting from tableside.

  Meal soon over, they continued the shopping for Roc’s new wardrobe. Tyler found more stretch leggings with lace around the bottom and bought two each in four darker colors while Roc chose lighter ones. New shoes. Tyler found a new pair of black suede boots with fringe down the back. Roc picked out several flats.

  On the way back, they drove through Kentucky Fried Chicken for two big bucket meals with coleslaw and beans for sides. While waiting, Tyler called Gable to ask him to get potatoes cleaned and quartered and into the oven to roast. Call ended, she zoned out.

  Fear.

  Someone in mortal terror. A woman. Slouched? But…not a woman. It was like what she’d felt from the woman Adamantine had strangled.

  “Ma’am?”

  Blinking back to the moment, she saw a red and white bucket. Two buckets and three bags came out and she sped home.

  “What is it?” Star asked. “You spaced.”

  “I don’t know,” Tyler replied, shifting into fifth gear onto the expressway to get home faster.

  She wove through traffic and they were pulling into the warehouse in under twenty minutes. The potatoes needed more time so they went up to sort out their purchases. Tyler made a copy of everything of her own and packed the originals away to make new copies in the future. She went down to help with dinner.

  Just the four of them tonight and they sat at the kitchen table. Potatoes into a bowl for them to fix up their own way, everything else left in their containers with spoons.

  “You’re distracted,” Gable noticed. “What is it?”

  “I hear someone.”

  An unexpected admission.

  “Hear them sayin’ what?” he asked.

  “Not so much saying as emanating. Emotions more than articulated thoughts. Fear. It’s close.”

  “Can you help?”

  “Not if I can’t find it. It’s ugly and it’s bloody, but I can’t find it.”

  Roc came in, cutting the conversation off. Gable watched Tyler pour the bucket of chicken onto a platter and bring it to the table.

  “Star!” she bellowed. “Ready!”

  “Damn, woman, you got a set a lungs, don’t you?” Gable blinked at her.

  “You don’t even know,” she grinned back, and sat sideways on the back bench to look out the window. She took a breast and a wing while Roc snagged two legs. Star went for the thighs. Not surprisingly, Gable was a wing man.

  “Tyler, may I speak with you?” Landra Ahr asked from the doorway.

  Wiping her fingers on a damp cloth, glaring up at him, she followed him to the telephone nook.

  “What?”

  “You tell me,” he said. “Your energies are indicating you are having an event of some kind. I would help you if you would share.”

  “I’m hearing someone is all. Someone very afraid and alone, and hungry.”

  “Male or female?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Can you pinpoint where?” he asked.

  “If I knew that I’d be there already. Home. At home. Filthy. I smell excrement.”

  “What do you see?”

  “I don’t know. It’s such a jumble. Like she doesn’t know what she’s seeing. I need the sky. I need stars.”

  She ported to the roof to see the expanse and breathe. About a minute and Gable came up with her leather.

  “It’s twenty fucking degrees out here,” he chastised.

  “I don’t even feel it right now. It’s here,” she said absently, turning to walk the short front end of the building. “Not far.”

  He followed her. “If you gotta go somewhere, you better take me with you. Landra and Jerome’d both have my hide if you went alone.”

  “You got your gun on you?” she asked.

  “Always.”

  “We’re going now,” she said, and they ported to a residential street.

  The sign at the corner said Hawley. One of the poorest sections of town. They heard a baby crying. Tyler stomped up the sidewalk past three houses, stomped up the uncleared walk to the porch. Gable looked over his shoulder. Lights on in other houses but no one else was outside. Most sidewalks were cleared of the snowfall.

  “She’s’ starving,” Tyler said, trying to see inside a dark window. “Try the door.”

  He tightened his gloves and gripped the handle. Nothing.

  “Should I ring the bell?” he asked.

  “No. No one’s home but the baby. We’re going in.”

  They ported into the living room. Tyler headed directly for the playpen while Gable found a light.

  “Fuck me!” he breathed.

  A black woman slumped on the sofa, shot dead, and the baby standing in the play pen naked and covered with urine and feces.

  “Dial nine one one but don’t say anything. Not one word,” Tyler instructed.

  He did, putting the receiver down on the table.

  “Nine one one. What is your emergency.”

  The baby continued to cry. He and Tyler stood frozen and he saw a tear running down her cheek.

  “Nine one one. What is your emergency? Is someone there?”

  “MAMA!” the baby said, loud and clear, little hand reaching towards Tyler.

  Within three minutes sirens were coming up the street. Gable found himself on the warehouse roof again. Tyler sat, not caring about the snow or ice under her. Head pounding, whirling hurricane of voice, everyone in the world calling to their god for help. She heard them all. The living, the dead. All at once, hammering her with all manner of emotions and intensities.

  “Come on, let’s go in,” Gable said, putting her coat over her shoulders to stop the steam coming off her.

  She didn’t hear him. He called Jerome.

  “What’s up?” Jerome answered.

  Gable told him everything. “Now she’s sittin’ on the roof an’ won’t budge. When you gonna be home?”

  “She probably can’t even hear you. Don’t take anything she says or does personally right now. Give her the phone and then go tell Star to go sit on my bed. Ty will be there in a minute with the phone. Go now.”

  Gable put the phone in Tyler’s hand. “It’s Jerome.”

  That she heard, and lifted the phone to her ear. “Jerome?”

  “Hey babe. Rough night?”

  “Like you don’t know.”

  “
Need it to be quiet?” he asked, not liking the tone of her voice. Or, rather, lack of tone.

  “Yeah.”

  “Starbird is in my room. Go to her. Give her the phone when you get there. She’ll make it quiet.”

  “Okay.”

  She ported to the bedroom door, finding it open, and went in. Star was sitting in the middle of the bed. Handing the phone to her, Tyler curled up in front of her, head on Star’s thigh.

  “I’m here,” Star said into the phone, startled by Tyler’s demeanor and proximity.

  “She all but in your lap?” he asked.

  “Yeah. It’s weird.”

  “She needs psionic silence. What she hears from the universe is deafening. Extend your Staff Power over her and hold it until I get there.”

  “You’re four hours away!”

  “I’ll be there in two.” He hung up on her.

  Two hours. Not an exercise she had practiced and wow was it way hard to do.

  Gable took his phone back, and it rang two minutes later.

  “Tell me again every single thing that happened, start to finish.”

  Gable did, as he was putting all the clothes he was wearing into the washer.

  “We were there maybe five minutes,” he said when he was done. “I don’t know how long that baby was there alone, but mom was stenching pretty bad. Putting my clothes in the washer now and I’m gonna shower for an hour. Tyler couldn’t even pick up the baby, man. It was covered head to toe in shit. I think that’s what’s got her so freaked. She so wanted to pick up that kid and comfort her, but couldn’t. I could see it. She wouldn’t leave until we heard the sirens stop in front of the house and the men coming up the steps.”

  “I’m already on my way. I’ll be there by nine at the latest. She ain’t gonna be moving.”

  “Which means mine won’t either.”

  “How are you?” Jerome asked.

  Silence while Gable pulled his words together and controlled his emotions.

  “That was some fucked up shit, man. That baby saw her Mama killed and has been starving ever since and not comprehending any of it. If Ty hadn’t heard her…that baby would have starved to death trapped in a play pen.”

  “I hear you, bro,” Jerome said under his breath.

  “I gotta go shower. I feel all vile.”

  “Thanks for going with her.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’d really rather not have gone,” Gable had to admit.