The Exchange Part 1

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Hands tight around the doorframe, I raise my head enough to lock eyes with the door. My voice is shot to shit but it doesn’t stop me from demanding, “Get out here Sapphire. Now.” There’s no patience to word it in nicer terms, only an anxious urge to lay eyes on her.

  I love that she doesn’t hesitate, that she rushes to open the door for me, because right now I need it.

  A whoosh of air leaves me as I drink her in. Yeah, definitely needed this.

  And there’s something we both need more.

  I do a quick catalog of her state—the still dilated pupils, the too-pale tone of her skin, her racing chest—and I know it hasn’t gotten any easier for her. The hairs at her temple are wet. She must have been splashing cold water on her face.

  She crosses her arms. “How are you feeling?”

  So steady. Holding herself together despite everything. So brave. Something unfurls in my chest, a warmth I’ve never felt before.

  It’s tenderness. Has to be, because the urge to have her in my arms almost overwhelms me. I lower my hands from the doorframe. “Come here.”

  She blinks at the tone of my voice. Yeah, I heard it too. Every aching emotion she's brought to life was laid bare in that tone.

  I reach for her waist, wrapping my hands around it. Her cheeks blossom with color and I’m pleased. The paleness of her skin worries me.

  My primal urges are calling for her and it’s such a God damned contradiction that I can barely keep up—protect her, soothe her, take care of her.

  Fuck her, wreck her, make her mine.

  Small tremors go through me as I pull her out of the bathroom, my hands locked on her tiny waist. Slowly, she lowers her arms, allowing me to lead her. Walking backwards, I keep going until the bed is behind me.

  Heart thrumming against my ribcage, I sit on it. Her eyes follow my every move. My mouth goes dry as I pull on her waist, making it obvious what I want. Her on my lap, her legs tight around me.

  Sapphire’s hands land on my shoulders. There’s a pause, a moment where she gauges the meaning of my silent request.

  My jaw tightens reflexively. I lift her off her feet and onto my lap.

  “Deimos, wait! What if you’re not okay yet? Please let me scan you first.”

  I settle her legs on either side of me. God, that pink-flushed, porcelain skin of hers is making me tremble. “I’m more worried about how you’re doing, baby.” Her blush darkens at the endearment. Knew she liked that.

  I slide my arms around her waist and nuzzle her jaw with my nose. “You’re going to let me scan you.” And you’re going to let me take care of you. I don’t tell her that last part, of course. Those vitals are foremost.

  Sapphire leans her forehead against mine, eyes closed. I literally can’t handle how attractive she is to me. I want to fucking bite her. Heavy breaths leave her petal-soft lips. I sense the lust between us and it’s driving me insane.

  “But what about you?” she asks. “You’re the one that almost bled out.” Her fingers flutter along the back of my neck. The tickling sensations makes me arch into her.

  "It wasn't that bad, Sapphire."

  "It was that bad, Deimos."

  I check a smirk. “I’m fine, Sapphire.” No I’m not. “Just tired. On that note: you’re going to tell me how to get rid of the bots. These little motherfuckers knocking me out was not appreciated in the least.”

  Shock flickers across her expression. Then she bursts out laughing, her entire face lighting up.

  Breath abandons me. I feel like my chest was head-butted by a fucking rhino. Holy shit, and I thought she was beautiful before? My semi-hard dick shoots to full length.

  I’m ready. Aching.

  I’m going to flip her over onto this bed, spread her thighs, and press my face to her pussy. Fuck, yes. I’ll make her ride my tongue, beg me to lick her dry.

  Before I can make good on my plan, Sapphire shakes her head. Still smiling, she moves her fingers and starts playing with the hairs at my nape. I force myself to hold back another shiver.

  She looks so happy. My chest puffs up with pride. I made her laugh. Gotta remember to do that more often.

  “Fine. I’ll let you scan me, but only if you promise to keep the nanobots,” she says.

  I’m sure the expression I’m wearing mimics my thoughts. She wants me to keep the fuckers? Why the hell?

  “Hear me out—”

  “Sapphire, no.”

  “I’m serious, hear me out.” She stops, eyes falling to my lips, back up to my brow.

  She starts laughing again, so hard she struggles to breathe through it.

  Love the sight of it, don’t get me wrong, but what the hell is so damned funny?

  “You,” she wheezes, as if answering my silent question. She goes limp in my arms from the force of her laughter.

  I’m worried all over again. I move my hands higher on her ribcage and pull her back so I can look at her. “Woman, are you getting hysterical on me?”

  She giggles at that. Fuck. The way her eyes glow.

  “I’m not hysterical. I think.” She inhales, making an effort to stem the laughter. “That was so funny.”

  “What was?” I’m tempted to scan her now, her permission be damned. I’m not quite sure that she isn’t in fact hysterical, or at least fast approaching it.

  “You. You were pouting.”

  The fuck I was pouting. I scowl at her but I let it go. We all know I don’t fucking pout, and now that her laughter has ceased, she seems more relaxed. “You sure you’re okay?”

  Sapphire nods, practically giddy. “I’m much better. Look,” she holds her hands out in front of me, “no more shaking.”

  Well, look at that. Her color’s much better, too. “Still. Will you let me scan you? Or are we going to have to fight about this?”

  Her lips twitch with another smile. “I already ran a scan. Says I’m fine.” She stops when I bring her close, almost nose to nose with each other.

  “But I want to scan you.” God help me, I really do. Everything is still pounding and I can’t stop wanting inside her, anyway I can get it. I’ll settle for the scan if that’s all she’ll give me, but I need something.

  She wraps her arms around my neck again, her eyes going languid. “Okay. I’ll let you in.”

  Shit. Don’t take that literally. Too late. I swallow, nervous. Another emotion I’m not familiar with.

  Sapphire stares into my eyes. I stare right back, not paying attention to the nervousness. From this angle, I can see every inch of her, how her thighs straddle my hips. Her skirt and my jeans remain covered in blood; a fact that bothers me. I don’t want her to carry around the blood of her attackers on her. Wish I wasn’t doing the same.

  I’ll get us cleaned up later.

  One command initiates the scan. Her features are bathed in a red glow. I keep my eyes on her face, focusing mainly on her brain. The image of it forms, like a 3D, rotating model. I search out the area known as the cingulate cortex, and study the lights that indicate activity.

  Her thalamus is next, then I move on, trying to get a read on the activity in her limbic system.

  It all seems normal for now. The more activity in those areas—excitement, hormonal changes, stress, panic—the more the brain “lights” up. Her brain activity, however, seems to have returned to normal.

  Doesn’t mean that everything is as it should be, though. I blink and end the scan, bothered by the amount of white matter I saw in her brain. Way more than usual.

  A potentially dangerous amount.

  Sapphire fidgets on my lap. She knows what I found. Biting the corner of her lip, she stares at me nervously. “Father was aware, but it’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine.” She recoils at the rough tone of my voice. My jaw is clenched so hard my teeth ache.

  I close my eyes, trying to sift through the violent impulse in me. Protect her. Shield her. “Dr. Allen only believed it was fine because you lied about your mental state, didn’t you?”

 
; Her gasp is loud.

  Bingo. Caught. “Sapphire, let’s forget about the possibility of a stroke down the line.”

  She cuts me off, fisting the material covering my shoulders. “My technology won’t allow that. Besides, it’s a small effect of the transfer. I brought in twice the info with me.”

  I’m almost tempted to grab her shoulders and shake her. “Sapphire. Cognitive overload. Ever hear of that? Your brain was going to be stressed as it is.”

  “I needed to have Magdalena’s memories.”

  As well as the knowledge that was her own. God knew how much that was exactly. “Sapphire, your mind is hyper-aroused. That’s a huge amount of stress.”

  “Deimos, I’m fine right now.”

  And fucking stubborn, too. I almost want to fist hair, force her still, and make her freaking listen. “Yeah, but at any provocation, your mind will speed-up. Over time, do you have any idea what that might do to you?”

  Pouting angrily, she crosses her arms. “Well, what would you have me do?”

  “Go back with Dr. Allen. He’ll have the resources—”

  She almost jumps off my lap, her face flushing red with frustration. I tighten my arms and refuse to let her go. “Deimos.” Her eyes plead with me to understand. “I can’t. They’ll force us to run forever. He’ll lose all his resources. Becoming the head of Mr. Heaton’s company is the only hope I have of ever living a semi-peaceful life.”

  I take in a ragged breath, my emotional processors fritzing all over the place. They run the fucking gamut and for two seconds, I’m convinced I’m going to go insane. I need to vent the sudden anger that suffocates me, to hit something.

  She’s so beautiful, in every way that counts. So young. All she wants to do is protect the man that created her. Why the fuck did she have to be forced into this?

  I yank her as close to me as possible. One hand dives into her hair, cradling the back of her head as I hold her to me. There’s something desperate about my hug, even I pick up on that.

  She pulls in a shuddering breath before tentatively returning it.

  “Deimos, it’s going to be okay,” she says in a soft tone.

  I stare at the wall in front of me. It’s been a hell of a long time since I was this lost. Helpless. She must go through with this, but I also know what I want to do above all and it’s irrational to the extreme.

  I want to sequester both her and Dr. Allen, hide them away at one of our sites. But then it’ll be Adelphi against Heaton. Not that I doubt our ability to take him on, but he knows about us and that makes him more dangerous than a seven nation army.

  I can’t go up against him. Can’t protect her the way I want to, and for that I hate him.

  Because of his ego, he’s put me in a position of extreme weakness. Sapphire between a rock and a hard place, and for that, I decide that Lei Heaton's going to die.

  Burying my head in her hair, I take a long sniff, needing her scent inside me. “He has less than a year to live.”

  She nods against my neck. “Stage four lymphoma. He’s managed to hide it from the public, but it’s really bad.”

  “That won’t be what kills him.” Her body goes stiff in my arms. She’s caught onto my meaning. I’m talking about an assassination. One I personally plan to take care of.

  With a shake of her head, she dislodges my hand, and then her eyes are on mine. That stubborn glint is back.

  Too bad, sweetheart. Not winning this one.

  “Deimos. Not. Necessary.”

  “Sapphire… yes it is.”

  She glowers at me.

  “No one hurts you, remember?”

  Her expression melts into something undefinable that makes my pulse race. She tucks several tendrils of her hair behind her ear, studying me with those big eyes.

  “I’m serious,” I tell her. “We’re going to stay in contact. I’m going to watch after you. And I’m going to—” I cast about for a “kinder” term when her eyes widen. “Facilitate Lei Heaton’s death so that you come into power sooner."

  You’ll be free and we can both—I stop myself right there. Beyond today, it can't happen. I'm trying to give her a more peaceful existence, not drag her into the fuckmess that is my life.

  “Why would you do all this for me?”

  Her question slides right to the core, ripping something in me wide open, and exposing a thought that makes no fucking sense.

  Because you’re mine.

  So much for "just for today", huh?

  I let my head drop onto her shoulder, the helplessness expanding. So is my ire. I’m being utterly led by my cock here.

  Sapphire slides her fingers into my hair, the tips massaging my scalp. I suck in a breath. She has to know how good that feels. I’ve never allowed anyone to caress me like this—all of a sudden I’m hungry to have it everywhere. Her hug, the way she pets me… it’s like a part of me had wanted it all this time, and I wasn’t aware of it ‘till now.

  And when I say aware, I mean fucking engrossed. I couldn’t pull away even if my entire team happened to barge into the room and saw us. Which is fucked up because I should stop this.

  No matter how I spin it, having sex with her equates to me taking advantage of her. She isn’t an older, experienced woman, and that means I’m the one that should be in control of this situation.

  Sapphire drops a soft kiss on the top of my head, confounding me even more. My body reacts to that kiss as if it had been her hand wrapped around my cock, stroking.

  My over-analyzing mind shuts down. Thought abandons me with each frantic beat of my heart. Every one of my emotions are engaged. I care for her, damn her, and it’s teamed up with the lust to fuck with my head. “Sapphire.”

  A little whimper echoes deep in her throat. Her arms tighten around me at the same time my arms tighten around her. We’re as close as two people can get with their clothes still on.

  It’s not enough. I’ll fucking die if I don’t get more.

  I can’t get enough of this girl and I haven’t even had her yet. “Shit, Sapphire.” I groan into her shoulder, my fingers digging desperately into her back. “What you do to me. Can’t fucking stop myself.”

  “Then don’t, Deimos. I want it. Want to know what it’s like… with you.”

  Those words go straight to my dick. God, it feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t remember the last time I was this hard for someone. “Sapphire, I don’t want you to hate me after.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You don’t even understand what you’re asking. You’re too young.”

  She jerks violently in my arms. It’s obvious she wants me to release her.

  To bad my body’s clamped down tight around her.

  “Deimos.” The growl in her voice is new. Sexy as fuck. “I am not a fucking child!”

  The vehemence in her voice, the fact that she cursed at me, catches me by surprise, and I loosen my hold on her without even realizing it.

  Sapphire flies off my lap like a freaking cheetah at full speed. Just as fast, she snatches a pillow off the bed.

  I don’t even have time to react.

  “Oooh, you infuriating, condescending man!”

  She slaps me in the face with the pillow.

  THE PILLOW FALLS TO MY LAP. I can do nothing but blink at her, shell-shocked. Her skin is flushed a deep red. Her eyes glow with fury. She’s enraged. Her hair whips all over shoulders with her rushed movements.

  She grabs the other pillow behind me and flings it at my face. The pillow resting on my lap is grabbed next. Hit number three is that hardest of them all.

  “You are not allowed to treat me as a child! At one point, I had more knowledge at my disposal than a human could hope to accumulate over three lifetimes. I still have twice as much info in my head as anyone on this planet! And yet you dare equate me to a child, telling me I’m ‘too young’ to know whether I want sex or not?”

  God. She’s magnificent. Her chest rises and falls with every rapid breath. So does mine.
>
  She’s asked me a question and is expecting a reply.

  I can’t give it to her. If I open my mouth, the only thing that’s going to leave it is a demand for her to get back on my lap right the fuck now.

  I’ve denied her sex, and it’s turned inward on her, morphing into the most epic sexual frustration I’ve ever witnessed. She slapped me with the pillows, for God’s sake. If she had been anyone else, I’d probably be laughing at her.

  No laughing for me. As it is, all I can do is sit here and swallow mouthful after mouthful of saliva. Yeah, she has my mouth watering like that. Worse, my own sexually frustrated body is ready to blow my load right there. The head of my cock is slick, the shaft full to bursting.

  I’ve never wanted a pussy this much. In a blinding moment of realization, it becomes clear that this is going to happen. There’s no way I can want a female this much and not explore it, at least once.

  No way is she leaving this room without my scent covering her. All over. Inside.

  I don’t have time to tell Sapphire my brilliant realization. She whirls away from me, heading for the bathroom. “Forget what I said. I don’t want to see what it’s like with you anymore. I’ll go find someone that is interested. Maybe Mars—”

  Let’s hit pause right here for two secs. Besides, I’m sure you can guess what stopped her mid-sentence. Hint: me, officially at her level of enraged. And we’ll get back to that in a few.

  First, I have to make something very clear. Some people seem to not understand some very important facts of life.

  Said people? Pay attention.

  There are some things that exist within the realm of “Shit That Should Never Be Said.” The realm exists. It's real, and I’m convinced that much consequential suffering—like that ass kicking you got for being a smart-ass, or the after-effects of war—could be avoided if people simply understood this fact.

  The garbage that just left her mouth? That one goes right at the motherfucking top of the steaming bullshit pile in that land of Shit That Should Never Be Said.

  Because she’s out of her fucking mind if she thinks I’ll ever let Gage have her!

  Considering all this, I’m sure you can understand how I practically leaped off that bed and went after her like a quarterback on the losing team during the last quarter of the Superball.