by Emily Bishop
He sets the bug on a beaten up wooden side table and flips open his laptop. It feels like we’re on the Oregon Trail sitting in this cabin, so the high-tech computer he’s got on his lap feels grossly out of place.
“How are you able to get Wi-Fi and stay off the grid?” I ask, curious.
He shrugs. “Wi-Fi is easy enough to hack into when you know how to do it. I’ve got neighbors close enough for this to happen while no one knows about it. I don’t stream a lot of video up here.”
He chuckles at his own inside joke before he starts working, the artificial gleam from the light paling his face.
“The thing with this kind of bug is that it’s usually connected to a cloud. If I can just tap into the coding I found along the bottom of the bot…”
He types with staccato fingertips, the sound dancing around the room as Isaac and I sit and watch him at work.
His eyes narrow and he grins. “And that’s how you hack it, folks. The recordings are divided out. The bugs are advanced enough only to trigger when a sound or light occur, so that recordings can be easily organized. Shall we listen to the first one?”
I nod, a sinking feeling developing in my gut. Am I ready to listen to this? What kind of stuff do they have on me? Wallace taps the pad on his laptop and turns up the volume. The sound of footprints emanates from the bug.
“Testing, testing. Implantation in place.”
My heart drops right along with my stomach at that voice. It’s Chantel.
“Bug number seven-ten-twelve is in place. Apartment secured.”
More footsteps and then the closing of a door finish the short recording. A wave of anger washes over me as Wallace looks up and meets my gaze.
“Someone you know, perhaps?”
“Yes,” I grit out through my teeth, staring up at Isaac. He’s glowering, and it’s nice to see my anger reflected somewhere.
“I should have trusted my instincts. Something with Chantel seemed off the whole time we were hanging out.”
“You mean when you left me in the hallway to go be with a stranger you didn’t remember?” he asks, and I scoot away from him. He removes his arm, picking up on the cue but he sits as close to me as ever.
“Not to interrupt your squabble but it’s likely a good thing that you recognize that voice. Now you have a lead, and you’re lucky. You didn’t know just what kind of danger you were in before. Now you know. You should call the police and report this.”
A shiver runs down my spine at those words, and Wallace closes his laptop, leaving the bug on the table. “I’m not going to the police, no way, no how. They won’t believe me. They didn’t believe that I was being watched in the first place, and I’ve got this feeling that Chantel’s not doing this alone. That there’s more this than meets the eye and whoever’s behind it all, they’ve got contacts.” What if I go to Detective Mullins and he’s in on it?
Okay, so that’s spectacularly paranoid, but still. We’d just been chased through the night, shot at, and so far, there have been no advancements in my case. Detective Mullins hasn’t so much as called me and that smacks of… I don’t know, suspicion. I don’t like it and if my gut instincts says something is up, something is damn well up.
Wallace interrupts my slew of paranoid thoughts. “I take it you don’t have a hotel you can go to for the night?” he asks.
I shake my head. “We were chased here, likely being followed. I’m sorry, Professor Wallace. I didn’t mean to put you in any danger.”
To my surprise, Wallace simply laughs.
“Come here,” he says, standing and beckoning for us to follow. We stand, and I put some distance between Isaac and myself. I need to regain control of the situation, and until I do, I can’t have him thinking that he has it. How did I let it get this far?
Wallace leads us down a dark hallway until he opens a door to the side and steps in. When we follow, we’re met with the bright light of at least ten TV monitors. Each one has a different image on it, mostly of the surrounding forest, but there is one of the front door as well.
“This is how I knew to let you in. I recognized you. Otherwise, this place is a fortress. I have guns set to go off and scare intruders in the distance. When you knocked on my door, I let them loose at the edge of the property…"
“Thank you,” I breathe.
Wallace leads us back out, stepping into a kitchen. “Your dog can spend the night in here. Otherwise, the guest bedroom is just down the hall, opposite of the living room. Given the hour, I imagine you might want to get some rest.”
I nod, thanking him one more time as Isaac and Wallace find a little food for Buster before we head down the hall to get some sleep. The room is miniscule with a queen-sized bed taking up almost the entirety of it. I stare at the bed. Do I want to sleep next to Isaac or not?
He crashes onto it, apparently not thinking twice about the situation. I hesitate as he kicks off his shoes and pulls the covers up over himself, turning down the other side for me.
“You can be mad at me as you want but we still need sleep.”
He says this while his eyes are closed, not looking at me. Which is a shame, because I’m leveling a great glare at him. With a sigh, I plop down into bed next to him, my traitorous body reacting to the horizontal closeness instantly. Sensing my irritation, he makes no move to cuddle me, instead turning onto his back. Within minutes, he is breathing heavily.
I watch him for a while, making sure that he’s deeply sleeping before I slide right back out of bed. He didn’t even notice that I didn’t remove my shoes. I tiptoe out of the room and back down the hallway, Wallace nowhere in sight. I peek into his camera room, taking note of where he’s monitoring before I walk to the kitchen.
I noticed the back door there earlier and made a mental note. Isaac may not think getting that bug is important but I know it is.
Buster’s asleep too, snoring soft doggy snores nearby. It’s been a rough night for all of us. I inhale, holding the breath in as I step out into the cold, and close the door gently behind me.
I am going to do what I need to in order to solve this case. No one, not even Isaac the firefighter, will stop that from happening.
15
Isaac
A draft of wind blows across my face, and I roll over, reaching my arm out. An alarm bell goes off in my head.
I’m beyond exhausted. It feels like I haven’t slept properly in days. My mind is halfway in dreamland, halfway in the present when my arm curls up and lands on an empty pillow.
That’s when it hits me.
I sit up, my hands running along the bed as though I’m going to find her beneath the sheet, just hiding nice and flat. Wake the fuck up, idiot. Scarlett’s gone.
And I’m pissed.
I jump up and stalk down the hallway, glancing around me. My eyes are well adjusted to the dark but even in the pitch of night, it’s difficult to see. Do I risk whispering out her name? I stop off at the monitoring room and stare at the televisions along the wall, watching. Something moves in the corner of my eye and I look at the top corner, where Scarlett peeps up at me before walking on, disappearing through the trees.
“Goddamned stubborn woman,” I mumble as I storm out of the room and look at the front door. That latch has to be too heavy for her to lift, doesn’t it? Anyway, it would be down if she’d gone out that way. If my brain wasn’t fried, I would have realized that instantly. She had to have found another way.
I trace my steps back down the hallway, reaching the kitchen. Every single lock is opened on the back door, leaving the rest of us completely vulnerable to attack.
But she didn’t think of that, did she? She was only thinking about herself and her stupid plan.
I’m so mad I could spit, and Buster looks up at me with a whimper.
I shoot a glance down at him. “It’s fine, bud. I’m just going to go get her. Then you and I can have a discussion about why you let her go in the first place.”
I can tell he doesn’t like my tone but
he doesn’t protest or volunteer to come along. Instead, he plants his head back down on the floor and closes his eyes, content that I have control over the situation.
The mutt isn’t wrong. Scarlett Smith is about to get a tough lesson in what happens after you put yourself and me in danger. I fling the door open, and it takes everything in me not to slam it shut, shattering it to pieces. I close it like a normal human being before stalking into the woods, the frosty air invigorating, spurring my anger as I have a physical outlet to release some of this pent-up frustration.
Of more than one kind.
Even as thoughts of burying myself between Scarlett’s thighs surface, I can’t even fathom it at the moment. She has been reckless and a damned fool, and I’m not letting her get away with it. She nearly died just a week ago, and now I’m beginning to understand why.
Scarlett needs a lesson in common fucking sense.
I slow my gait as I make my way through the woods. Her footsteps crunch on dead leaves and frozen snow. I’m in hot pursuit now, closing the gap between us. I want to scare her. I want her to feel the consequences of her fucking actions.
I’m right up behind her now, and she still doesn’t notice. She’s lucky it’s me and not one of the shadows. So fucking lucky.
“Really? This is what you think is a good idea?”
She jumps straight into the air and turns to face me with her fists raised, like she could actually beat me in a game of fisticuffs.
“Get your fists down, you’re making a fool out of yourself.”
I shove her fists to her sides, and she looks up at me with wide, beautiful eyes, stunningly blue even in the dark. I hate that I’m reacting to those eyes, when all I want to do is be pissed.
I am pissed. She just has a way of also making me horny at the same time. Now I remember why I went on a sex diet. This shit is for the birds.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, and she has the balls to sound accusatory. Her tone grates against my nerves, and I step closer, closing the distance between us. Her breath comes out in hot puffs of smoke. I watch as mine mingles with it in midair.
“I think the more appropriate question here is, what the fucking fuck are you doing out here, after I told you we’d get the bug in the morning? What is wrong with you?”
“There is nothing wrong with me, Isaac! I’m doing my job! You can be mad at me all you want but I’m not apologizing just because I’m not afraid of the dark like some little kid. I have a job to do, and I’m not going to let you or anyone else prevent me from doing it!”
Her voice is loud, and it echoes across the woods. I don’t care. Let Juice and anyone else hear us. I’m so angry I could take them all on myself. In fact, I’d be happy to do so.
“The dark is where most crime happens. Do you know why? Because it’s impossible to see, and it’s easy to hide! If you can’t wait five hours to get what isn’t missing, maybe you should find a new career.”
She throws her hands up in the air, and now she’s in my face, completely unafraid. Completely full of rage. She looks like a Norse goddess, her hair aflame in the dark, her eyes wild with her temper.
“Why do you feel the need to control me so badly? I don’t belong to you!”
Her lips are quivering, luscious and tempting, mere inches from my face. I pull her body against mine, crushing her against me. In spite of her own anger, she doesn’t pull away.
I lean down, my face nearly against hers. “You want to see me take control?”
Her eyes are wide as they dart back and forth, staring up into mine. She doesn’t have words. I shift her closer until her slit is pressed against my hard dick, and I lift her up and down, sliding her against me. She breathes in a hiss, biting her lip, and I know that she has already lost control of her desire for me. This is all the motivation I need.
I lift her up, glancing up to catch any cameras and seeing none. Carrying her over, I press her back against the trunk of a thick tree, bending to grab her legs and wrap them around my waist.
The heat of her against my erection is delicious, and with her legs around me and the tree supporting the rest of her, I reach between us and drag my finger along the length of her through her jeans.
She moans again. I can’t go another second without feeling the skin beneath.
I drop her to the ground. I’m a little rough, and I don’t care. It’s been a hell of a week, and I’ve got some steam to let off. I tug at the front of her jeans and pull her to me, capturing her mouth in a hot, demanding kiss. She doesn’t resist. In fact, she’s competing with me. Her teeth bite at my lips and the pain drives me on, my fingers making quick work of undoing her jeans and sliding them down past her ass to her ankles, her panties along for the ride. I make quick work of tugging my own jeans down before I lift her back up and wrap her legs around me.
She arches for my dick, begging for it with her body. If she thinks I’m going to give her what she wants tonight, she’s sorely mistaken. I’m going to torture her. I’m going to get her to lose her fucking mind until she realizes that listening to me is her best bet at survival. Or something. I’m losing my reason for that part as I slide my hand between us and circle her clit with my thumb. She bucks back, her head pressing against the tree. My dick is springing forward, desperate to sink home but I’m not letting it happen yet.
Not yet.
I slide my finger down from her clit and toy with her entrance, allowing the smallest bit of my finger tip to circle at her opening, spreading her without filling her. She cries out, and the sound echoes like a wild animal’s across the silent woods around us. Finally, I sink my finger in, pulling it in and out of her as she goes for a ride, her pussy soaked and slippery around me. I remove my finger, which I imagine feels extra cold given our surroundings.
“Please, more,” she says.
I shake my head. “I’m going to need a little lubrication first.”
I release her from the tree, dropping her to her knees, and she palms my dick between her small, delicate hands. I nearly come right then and there. Then her mouth crashes against my shaft, taking it deep into her mouth, fucking it, her teeth digging in a little with each suctioned pull. I bite my own lip and release a guttural moan as she lets me fuck her mouth, my balls tingling with the need to release.
I tug her up without warning, lifting her once again and wrapping her legs against my waist. This time I don’t wait. I plunge into her molten heat, her body fitting over me like a glove. When I sink in, she lets out another wild cry, moaning as I plunge into her over and over, pumping into her. I spread her legs wider to fill her even deeper.
“You like that? How’s this for control?” I pant.
She doesn’t respond, instead riding me as I fuck her as hard as I can against this tree in the middle of nowhere. My own finish shuttles toward me, and I’m ready to see her come first.
I flick her shiny little bean as I speed up my rhythm and she shrieks out as I fuck and fuck and fuck her. Her body spasms around my dick, squeezing me, pulling me in deeper.
I lose my fucking mind then, spilling everything out with an animalistic roar.
I keep fucking her until my dick goes limp, and she slumps against my shoulder, totally sated. We stand like that as our bodies cool in the twilight, and I finally pull away from her, zipping up my jeans as she does the same.
“Now, are you going to come back to the house with me like an intelligent person, or do I have to carry you there myself?”
As great as that was, we’re still in a dangerous situation.
She crosses her arms at me, glowing from sex and stubborn as fucking hell. “You know my answer.”
“Goddamn it, Scarlett. If we get killed, this is on you.”
“Fair enough,” she says.
I take her hand and drag her the rest of the way, my senses on hyper alert as we reach the abandoned truck. I don’t see anyone in sight, and the truth is, as much as I don’t want to admit it, Scarlett might be right. They wouldn’t expect us to
come back right after we were chased. Chances are, they would be more likely to ambush us in the morning, even in the light of day.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to linger here. I pull the sweater out of the backseat, checking to be sure the bug is still wrapped inside.
I show it to Scarlett, and the two of us make our way back to the cabin, silently. We leave the sweater on the kitchen table and write a note for Wallace in case he wakes up before us and finds it there.
This time, I wait for Scarlett to lay in bed first, tucking the blanket around herself before I settle in next to her. We just had a big fight, and amazing sex. It’s contradictory, so I don’t know where we stand, but I wrap my arm around her anyway before drifting off.
Perhaps if I hold tightly enough, she won’t slip away again.
16
Scarlett
I wake up in the dark. Ugh, what time is it?
Isaac has his arm wrapped around me in a viselike grip, pinning me to him. I’d be annoyed if I wasn’t so damn confused about how I feel about him.
On one hand, I want to mount him every chance I get. I want to tell him everything, to share my worries and my fears and my dreams with him. I also want him to move out of my way, so I can do what I need to. I get that he’s protective but I don’t always need protecting.
I reach for my purse on the floor and pull out my cellphone. I’ve been hesitant to turn it on since the accident but being in a windowless room gives me no sense of time.
How late have we slept? Isaac’s arm drops to the bed beside me as I roll over, pressing the button to turn on my phone. When the main screen flashes, I expect to see a series of worried text messages and voicemails.
Nothing appears.
It’s a telling thing that no one thought to check on me. I remind myself to call my parents, who likely have no idea that anything bad has happened to me. Scarlett’s just busy, let’s not bother her. I check the time and sigh – it’s later in the morning, and we should get back.
