by CLIFF, J. C.
My cock throbs and pulsates within the tight walls of her pussy as I spill my seed into her womb. My thrusts become erratic, and I pull away from the kiss, burying my face in the curve of her neck as I come with a fierceness that makes shudder. I’m breathing heavily, and my eyes water from the intense orgasm. I don’t want this connection between us to end. I just want to stay holed up in this room for days as I make her see that we are meant to be.
Once we’ve both come down from our high, I hold her in place, staying buried deep inside her warmth. I don’t want to pull away from her body and face the realities of the day, because I know within the hour, we’ll have to be out on the streets, acting as bait. There’s a pang in my heart at the thought of something bad happening to her. I’ll never be able to forgive myself if something does. It will ruin me. I breathe in her scent, and exhale slowly. Those three little words hang precariously on the tip of my tongue. She has no idea how many times I’ve come close to telling her how I feel about her.
As both of our breathing patterns calm down, her legs unwrap from around my waist, and I reluctantly let her body slide off my hips and onto the floor. “I don’t know how you held me up like that for so long,” she softly comments.
“Hey, if I can’t hoist my girl up against a wall or a window, then just go ahead and check me into a nursing home,” I reply with a grin. She returns my smile, still able to partake in a little light humor. I kiss her forehead and hold her steady until I feel she can stand on her own.
My lips twitch, lifting in an arrogant, lazy smirk. “You can scratch being fucked against a window off your bucket list now,” I tell her, and her face flushes a beautiful shade of pink as she coyly looks away and I chuckle. She tries to take a playful swat at me, but misses.
“What makes you think I…”
“Babe,” I interrupt, lifting a brow, “being fucked held up against anything is every woman’s dream.”
“So you say.” A haughty arrogance lines her voice, and I smile. I know she’s full of shit.
“Oh, I do say.” Then I tilt my head to the side and tease her, using a feminine voice, “Travis…oooh…God…don’t stop.”
I pull away quickly, avoiding her quick swing, and laugh aloud. She tries to hide her mirth, but fails miserably. “You’re so bad.”
“You like me bad, baby,” I say with a grin as I bend down and grab my jeans, slipping them back on, but leaving the top button unfastened at the waist.
I turn and make my way to the bathroom to grab a washcloth. I douse it with warm water, and as I do, my grin fades. Jules’ silver medallion gleams on the countertop underneath the bathroom lights, catching my attention. She has to be more careful with this piece of jewelry now. I don’t want her taking it off for a split second, because that would be all it takes for shit to go from bad to worse. Then I’d have a hell of a time trying to find her.
I grasp the necklace in my hand and close my fist tightly around it as I’m reminded what this necklace stands for. Eternal Love. I remember the exact words she said to me when I noticed her necklace for the first time too. Family, where life begins and love never ends. I wasn’t able to fully grasp its meaning then, not like I do now.
I slip the necklace into my pocket, and then wring out the wet rag. I’ll need to have a chat with her about keeping this on 24/7. When I walk into the bedroom with the warm washcloth, she’s sitting on the edge of the bed with her bathrobe wrapped tightly around her body, looking lost.
When I narrow my eyes on her in question, she turns her gaze away from mine, and I suddenly get the feeling we somehow took ten steps back from the intimacy we just shared. “What’s the matter?” I ask as I kneel down before her and gently use two fingers to turn her chin, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she says solemnly. My brows furrow at her odd behavior.
I’m not sure what the hell just happened between us, and I don’t like it. “That’s not a nothing’s wrong look to me, sweetheart.”
She softly sighs in defeat, her blue eyes full of grief as she asks, “So, what now?”
I squint my eyes, and raise a brow at her. “That’s a pretty vague question. Care to elaborate?”
She waves her hand around in a swirl through the air while she speaks. “You guys were having a secret meeting out there this morning. I’m just wondering about the plans you came up with.”
My lips thin in thought as I ask myself just how much to tell her to keep her appeased. “The plan is to stay in plain sight for now. Somehow, they found us at the cabin, and until we know how they did it, we can’t disappear fully, because if they found us once, they’ll find us again.”
I watch the wheels in her little head turn as she thinks about what I just said and then tries the word out on her tongue. “Disappear?” She swallows hard at the thought, her voice turning croaky, “You mean…really disappear? But what about—”
Cutting her off, I quickly explain, “I mean slip away to a safe hiding place…like what we had at the cabin, but we need to throw them off our trail first.” She doesn’t need to know any more of my future plans at this point. It’d only freak her out anyway, and we have a pressing task at hand. I set the warm rag on the bed and pull out the necklace from my back pocket. As I place it around her neck and clasp it, I warn her, “Jules, I know how much this necklace means to you, and with us being on the run like we are, we might have to leave in a second’s notice. That means you’d lose something very special to you forever if it’s not on you. Promise me you won’t take it off until I tell you that you can. Don’t even take it off to shower, okay?”
She clutches the medallion in her hand as if she had already experienced the loss of it. “Okay,” she softly agrees.
“Good.” Now that I’ve cleared that up, I pick up the washcloth and carefully peel open her bathrobe. She’s looking shy, and I see she’s not going to be any help, so I nudge her legs apart. I gently wipe her clean with the warm cloth. Looking at her flushed body as I wipe away my cum off her toned thighs, shit…I could take her again right now.
She cuts through my lascivious thoughts and asks, “Do you think they can find us by the microchips in our hands?”
I toss the rag aside and place my hands on her bare thighs, giving her a look of concern. “No, baby, I’ve already told you those memory chips are read-only. They could never be a tracking device; they would have to be the size of a quarter, and then implanted…” I abruptly choke on my own words as I remember less than a month ago, presenting new tracker technology to Nick. In fact, it was the same week Jules was brought into the facility. No fucking way. The company hadn’t finished working out all the logistics. They were still working out the kinks and battery life. Plus, the satellite range hadn’t been fully developed yet.
“Travis?” Jules asks warily, breaking into my thoughts. “What are you thinking about?”
I ignore her growing apprehension as I shake my head in disbelief. The fucker couldn’t have, could he? I stand up, grasping Jules by her shoulders, and force her to lie back down on the bed. She immediately grows on edge, tensing all her muscles, and her eyes go wide with fear.
“What’s…what’s wrong? What are you doing?” she asks with panicked confusion.
Being intent on one thing only, I ignore her questions. She starts to squirm, and I sternly warn her, “Stay still.” I open her bathrobe to further expose her hips, and she twists her body, trying to get away. I grasp tightly at her thighs, growing frustrated. “Stay the fuck still, Jules!” I bark firmly. She flinches at my harshness, but this time she listens. As if my words were ice, she lays frozen on the bed, not moving a muscle.
I bend down and hover closely over her left hip, inspecting her flesh closely with my eyes while skimming her skin with my fingertips, feeling for any kind of a lump. I hope against hope I find nothing, but as I move my fingers a little to the left, I feel a hard nodule. I lift my head back toward the ceiling and bellow out, “Fuck!”
I bend back down a
nd feel for the device again, praying to God it was a fluke, but it’s not. My breathing picks up as I feel the circumference of the quarter-sized tracker lying underneath layers of her skin. I can make out the tiniest scar where an incision was made, a mark so small one would have to actually be looking for it to find.
My outburst and odd behavior has her eyes full of alarm, and her hand flies to her chest in a panicked gesture. “You’re scaring me,” she hoarsely whispers. I glance at her face; her eyes are glassy and full of confusion. I let loose of the grip I have on her hip and take a few steps back from her. Running both hands through my hair in frustration, I begin to pace the room, trying to think. I’m so damn infuriated at myself for not thinking two steps ahead of Nick. Of course, I didn’t think in a million years I’d be stealing his woman out from under him at the last minute either. I should’ve known he would have taken these precautionary measures, going overboard, even though the tracker isn’t fully developed yet.
I have to think…shit. This changes everything. All of the plans my men and I made this morning have gone out the window. We’re going to have to rearrange, regroup somehow, to come up with a new plan, and quick.
“Travis?” Her soft, trembling voice pulls me out of my deep thoughts. With the side of my body facing her, I don’t turn to look at her. If I catch sight of her helpless blue eyes, it’ll gut me and I won’t be able to think straight.
I hold up my index finger, indicating for her to give me a moment. Valuable minutes are ticking by, and I don’t have time to explain things to her right now. I need someone with know-how, and who can provide a solution. I pull out my cellphone and call Quinn.
“Trav?” Quinn questions with consternation.
“Quinn, we’ve got a big problem.”
“Let it roll, man.”
“Just found a GPS tracker in her hip.” Jules lets out a loud gasp, and I turn to look at her as she covers her mouth with her hand. Her sweet blue eyes are drowning in foreboding terror. I try to stay detached from her emotions, and continue, “It’s brand new technology, hot off the press, and it wasn’t supposed to be on the market for another month or two, but I guess Nick pulled some strings to get his hands on it early.”
Quinn whistles low into the phone. “Well, that is one hell of a monkey wrench thrown into the mechanics of our plans, isn’t it?” Despite Quinn’s muscle power, out of all of us, he’s actually the best technical guru to handle all electronic devices.
“I thought you said incoming signals were damn near nil out at the cabin.” I grow irritable with an accusatory tone while I walk toward Jules and sit down beside her. I grab her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, trying to give her some level of comfort while I work this out with Quinn.
“With that type of new technology, Travis, I’m sure they received a lot of false positives over the last few weeks, meaning those signals had to have been extremely weak, especially given where the cabin is located. I think maybe that’s why it took them so long to find you.”
“So what now?”
“I’ll let the other guys know, and we’ll reassemble while you calm your woman down. I’m sure she’s a wreck over the news.”
“Yeah, shock is more like it right now.”
“You know, since we did want to draw them out, knowing what we know now…well, it can give us the upper hand. We’ll just have to be more vigilant, because once you step out into the streets, it’s fair game. I can only imagine this will unfold very quickly.” He pauses for a brief moment, saying something in the background to Stryker before he returns to me. “This does put her at more at risk, you know. Are you willing to expose her like that?” A deep sigh escapes me as I close my eyes and think for a long moment. “Travis?” Quinn prods, trying to get me to respond.
“I’m here,” I reluctantly reply. I force myself to come to a hard and fast decision, one that will put Jules back in the line of fire, but it’s the only way. “Let’s do this,” I say with resolve. Quinn and I talk for a few more minutes, working out a few semantics. Some of what we say is in code, so Jules can’t decipher all of the conversation, and by the time I hang up, her face has drained of color.
She pulls her hand out of mine and stands up, clutching her robe tightly around her body for false security. She stutters in dazed shock, “I’ve got something in me?” Her voice escalates in panic, and all I can do is give her a quick nod.
“Oh, God!” She goes weak in the knees, and her legs lose control as she slinks to the floor with a stunned look on her face.
Rushing to her side, I kneel down on the floor in front of her and cup her cheeks with both of my hands. My poor Jules. I lean forward and slow my speech, wanting her to comprehend my every syllable. “I need you to listen to me, and pay close attention to my words.” The pleading in my voice matches the desperation in my eyes. “I need you to trust me, Jules. I’ve got you,” I implore. I don’t know what else to say to convince her of this. I’ve already shown her that I’d take a bullet for her, and I’d do it again without hesitation.
She breathes short, tight breaths, indicating the beginnings of a panic attack, and if I don’t find a way to calm her down, she’ll be on the brink of having a full-blown meltdown within seconds. I rest my forehead against hers, and softly assure her, “Baby, to the best of my ability, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. They will have to pry you from my dead fingers if that has to be the case.”
I lightly kiss her lips and whisper, “I’m here, baby. I’m not going to leave your side for a split second. The guys and I have put a game plan into motion, and you need to calm down so we can go over it together. I need your head on straight.”
Taking her by both hands, they tremble in my hold as I carefully lift her to her feet.
I guide her to the edge of the bed and have her sit down as I squat in front of her. Poor thing looks like a zombie coming off crack cocaine. A tear slips from the corner of her eye, and my chest constricts from the sight of her distress.
I don’t know how to calm her frayed nerves, and I have to be careful how I approach the sensitive subject of the man chase at hand, but I can’t sugarcoat the severity of what’s going on either. Shit’s getting ready to hit the fan at warp speed, and there is no hiding that fact.
Speaking in a gentle, yet serious tone, I tell her, “Jules, I need you to listen to me, and do everything I’m fixin’ to tell you to do. I have protective gear here, and both of us are going to wear it, okay?” She squeezes her eyes tightly, which forces two more tears to leak out the sides of her eyes. She takes in a deep, shaky breath while making the most God-awful face, as if she’s in pain.
“Shit, baby,” I quickly explain, “I never wanted you to be in harm’s way. I promise. I knew the cost when I took you, and to be honest, I expected this shit storm, but I thought I could at least tuck you away somewhere safe while I dealt with the repercussions.”
“Travis, get it out of me.” Her voice quivers as it pitches to a high note as she pleads, “Please, I don’t care if you have to use a pocket knife; just get it out of me.” Her hands ball into tight fists, expressing her extreme anxiety.
“Unfortunately, now is not the time,” I state calmly as I shake my head. “We have a window of opportunity to gain the upper-hand on these guys, and catch them off guard.”
“No…no…no…” she chants, not understanding what I’m trying to say.
“Listen to me,” I urge, cradling her face in my hands. “If they suspect we know nothing and we act oblivious to the tracker, they will think they’re still in control. In fact, the more natural we act, the better. I guarantee you they’ve already located us, sweetheart, and it’s simply too late in the game to change what we’re doing.”
A visible shiver rolls over her entire body, and I pull her into my arms. All of her extremities tremor with fear. I kiss the top of her head as I whisper over her, “Please believe me. It guts me to have to drag you into this. I will guard you with my life.” I pull back and search her misty
eyes. “Do you believe me…that I would protect you with my very life?”
I wipe away a stray tear with my thumb, her lips quivering as she replies softly, “I do believe you, Travis.”
I close my eyes and savor her words. I lay my head against her chest, pulling her into me for a tight embrace. I inhale the sweet scent of Jules into my lungs, wanting to commit everything about her to memory should this day go awry. Her trembling fingers thread through my hair as she holds me in the comfort of her bosom.
Her voice softly drifts over my head. “I’m really scared, Travis, and I don’t know why, but a large part of me believes you are really trying to protect me.” Her voice cracks as if she’s in agony, and her fingers tighten in my hair. “I’m running on blind faith here. You can’t even begin to imagine how hard this is for me. I didn’t see so many things coming at me—from the kidnapping, to the car wreck, and then the invasion. The element of surprise has always been against me. I’ve been blindsided at every turn, and quite frankly, I’m tired of life taking me by the horns.”
I lift my head from her chest and look into her eyes with all seriousness. “It’s too dangerous for you to know anything,” I stress emphatically. “You don’t understand; you already know too much as it is. I can’t…you can’t…afford to know any more than you already do if they capture you.”
“Travis, I’m already as good as dead.”
My eyes bolt open wide. “No, baby, they want you alive. It’s me they want dead. What you need to understand is you will pay the price for being with me. A big price.”
“But you took me, Travis.”
“That simple fact doesn’t matter to them.” If Nick were to get her again, she has no idea what her life would be like post-capture, and I’m on edge just thinking about it. I pray I’m wrong, but I’d fear he’d torture her, trying to extrapolate information out of her, especially if she didn’t satisfy his curiosity.
