Stupidly, I’d become lost in my explanation and hadn’t noticed Jason’s face harden to emotionless stone. Crap! Idiot!
His jaw clenched, sharpening his features, and then he spoke. “Some guy’s been visiting your dreams? For weeks?”
I nodded reluctantly.
“Who is he?” Jason’s voice was hot and cold in an uncomfortable mixture that made me want to run away from him.
Instead, I locked my knees, refusing to take a step backward. “I don’t know exactly,” I told him truthfully. “I call him MG, for Mystery Guy. He’s never told me his name.”
“What does he do when he visits?”
“Let’s see…he was helping me figure out how to use my telepathy. And, he would get rid of my nightmares about Cam, but I don’t really have those anymore.” Cringing, I added, “And he comforted me the night I found out about Grams.”
“Comforted you? How?”
“He held me,” I snapped. “That’s all.” I pushed Jason’s hands away and tried to step around him into the tent, but his arm shot out, blocking me.
“I told you, I’m not used to this,” he said, looking straight ahead into the moonlit woods. Lightning lit up the night sky as Jason looked at me, and his eyes glowed like blue fire for a fraction of a second. When darkness returned, I could still feel the heat of his gaze. As thunder rumbled through the mountains, Jason’s right arm—the one blocking my path into the tent—flexed and wrapped around me, pulling me into a tight embrace.
My desires overpowered my mind, and I smiled against his sweatshirt. “You can be such an asshole…”
He laughed, deep and rumbling, and rested his chin on top of my head. He began running his fingertips down my back, tracing my spine through my sweater, gently, smoothly, tantalizingly.
“Mmm…that feels good,” I purred, squeezing him tighter. “You remember that one winter formal…when you were a senior?”
It was the only dance we’d both attended. I was the only eighth-grader there, invited by a freshman boy who lived down the street from me—Tommy. He was cute but had possessed a decidedly flimsy backbone. When we joined up with his group of friends before the dance, the girls slowly pressured him into ignoring me. By the time we arrived at the dance, oohing and ahhing at the tacky attempts to turn the gym into a fantastical ice kingdom, I might as well have been invisible.
“Yeah, I remember,” Jason said. “I didn’t like seeing you sitting there alone.”
Jason had found me sitting by myself at a table in the corner of the gym, near tears, my dress’s layered, purple tulle skirt fluffed out around me. He’d sat in the chair next to me and lifted my chin with a single finger. “What’d he do?” he’d asked.
“Nothing,” I’d whimpered. That had been the problem; it was my first high school dance, and my date hadn’t talked to me since we’d arrived, let alone danced with me. And I’d always loved to dance, not that I was any good at it.
“Want me to kick his ass?” Jason had asked, making me smile a tiny, sad smile while I shook my head. He’d grinned then, heartbreakingly handsome in a charcoal-gray suit with a tie that matched his sapphire eyes perfectly. “Want to dance?”
I’d looked up at him as he’d stood and offered his hand, my lips widening to an elated smile. “Um, yeah…I’d love to,” I’d said, feeling like the most beautiful girl in the gymnasium. He’d danced with me for four songs, including a slow dance, before his friends caught on, passing me around like the belle of the ball. One of them, a junior at the time, I actually dated the following year.
“You made me a legend that night, you know,” I told Jason, laughing.
“What do you mean?”
“On the first day of school the next year, I showed up, and all the girls either wanted to be my friend or hated me because ‘Jason Cartwright totally had a thing for that redhead’,” I quoted. “It took me two months to convince everyone I wasn’t your secret girlfriend—ridiculous, I know—and then a ton of guys asked me out because they thought I had been your secret girlfriend at one point. As if you, Mr. Hot-shit senior, would’ve dated an eighth-grader.”
Jason chuckled. “Did you notice your little shit of a date wasn’t nearly as popular the next year?”
“What’d you do?” I wondered, looking up at him with fascinated horror.
Jason smirked wickedly. “I didn’t actually do anything to him…but my boys and I did threaten to kick the shit out of anyone who was nice to him.”
“Jason!” I scolded, smacking his chest.
“What? He deserved it,” he said, lowering his head to press his lips against mine. It was the perfect way to shut me up. “No more talking,” he breathed. His hands slipped between us, and he unfastened the top button of my jeans.
In response, I pulled away from him, stepped into the tent, and slipped off my boots. I removed my sweater, long-sleeve shirt, and tank top in one smooth motion. At the sound of the tent zipper, I turned to see Jason had followed me in, zipped the tent, and was watching me as he removed his boots. My jeans and long underwear came off together, collecting my socks along the way. In the chill of the winter night, I was standing in a dark tent, nearly naked, with a fully clothed man. With Jason. Despite the cold, I felt near melting.
“I wish I could see you better,” Jason whispered, his rough voice sounding too loud. He disrobed quickly, not even pausing before removing his snug boxer briefs.
Lightening flashed, illuminating him completely for an instant. He was so terrifyingly masculine…so powerful and so beautiful. A low, appreciative sound escaped from my throat.
I’d seen him naked once, though he didn’t know it. Near the end of my junior year of high school, Jason had come home on leave after finishing a tour in Afghanistan. I’d been laying in Zoe’s bed, my best friend sleeping deeply beside me, and had turned to face the partially open door when he’d walked by. It was early, maybe five in the morning—he probably hadn’t expected anyone else to be awake. At least, that was the only excuse I could come up with for why he’d walked from his room to the bathroom, completely nude. Even in the dim morning light, I’d been able to see his incredibly defined physique and his impressive manly attributes. It had actually been the first time I’d ever seen a fully nude man in real life. He’d ruined all other men for me, setting a standard they couldn’t meet simply because they weren’t him.
I twisted my arms behind me to unclasp my bra and flung it on top of the pile of my other clothes. Or at least I thought I did—I was too busy savoring the sight of the statuesque man before me to care. I didn’t have time to slip out of my underwear before Jason reached me.
“Let me,” he said, plucking my hands from the top of my panties. He frowned suddenly. “Do we need—”
“I’m on the pill,” I told him, cutting him off. I’d been good about taking my little yellow pills and had scavenged a several-year supply, just to be safe. The last thing I wanted to bring into the tortured world was a kid. And then I remembered it was Jason, a man who’d been with who-knew-how-many women. Unwanted pregnancy might not be the only thing I needed to worry about. “Unless, you know…we need to because, um…” Awkward…
He shook his head. “I’m good.” I bet you are…
After a long, lingering kiss, Jason’s mouth laid a path over my chin and down my throat. On his way to my purple boy shorts he was diverted by various landmarks, paying special attention to a couple of popular ones and a few less visited, before reaching his destination. He took note of the touches that made me gasp or giggle or clench my fingers in his hair. Each time he looked up at me, I knew that no guy, not even my beloved Cam, had stood a chance against the man immortalizing my body with his mouth.
As Jason knelt and slid my panties down, freeing first one foot, then the other, I shivered.
“Are you cold?” he asked, his voice even rougher than usual.
Under his penetrating stare, I shivered again. “No.”
Holding my gaze, Jason slid his hands up my legs, from a
nkle to thigh, and higher. I gasped; Jason was finally touching me where I’d wanted him to touch for over a decade. When he felt the evidence of my desire for him, he growled. My throaty moans grew more ardent as his fingers gave way to his mouth, to his tongue. Eventually, his firm grasp on my hips was the only thing keeping me upright.
When Jason stood again, I was frustratingly close to the edge and aching to feel him inside me. I needed him more than I needed air to breathe or gravity to hold me to the earth. As I closed my hand around his length—asking, demanding—he inhaled sharply.
He wasted no time in easing me down to the sleeping bags and settling himself between my thighs. My legs shook as he entered me in one smooth motion. He wasn’t gentle. His eyes never left mine, darkening to obsidian when I wrapped my legs around his body and urged him on—to hold nothing back.
Hovering above me, he sheltered me from the harsh, decimated world while we joined in one of the few truly beautiful legacies of our broken species. We needed each other, needed to feel connected more than we needed satisfaction, though the end result came regardless.
As he pushed me to ecstasy, I groaned and arched and trembled beneath him. His climax erupted immediately after mine. I savored his every sound and expression as he shuddered within me. Around me. Over me.
“I never thought this would happen,” I told him quietly, running my fingernails up and down his smooth back. He nuzzled my neck in response, his breathing ragged.
Later, when we were lying together in the joined sleeping bags, he tightened the arm he’d wrapped around my middle and pulled me closer to his still unclothed body. “Did you think about it often?” he asked, and I could feel his breath against the back of my neck.
I nodded, burying my face in the little half-pillow. “But I think you already knew that,” I mumbled, embarrassed.
His deep chuckle confirmed my suspicions—Jason had known I’d wanted him for…pretty much ever. “Will you keep thinking about it?” he asked, kissing my shoulder. His low, rough voice made me want him again, made my body ready for him.
“More than ever,” I whispered.
He groaned. “Just knowing that is going to drive me in-fucking-sane.”
“Good,” I breathed. Minutes later, I corralled all of my courage and asked, “Did you ever think about it—about me—before everything happened?”
“Does it matter?”
“No,” I said, assuming I had my answer.
Jason touched his lips to the skin beneath my ear and whispered, “I did,” before grasping the inside of my thigh and easing back inside me.
44
DANI
I don’t see why you two can’t just ride together…like, share a horse. Then he can boost your power the whole time,” Holly said, sitting directly across the morning campfire from Jason and me. We were all bundled in our warmest clothes—though the winter had been mild so far, we were camping high in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and the current temperature was near freezing.
Jason and I had just finished telling the whole group about the previous night’s discovery—that Jason seemed to be able to amplify or nullify other people’s Abilities. We definitely didn’t tell them any of the night’s other developments, but I was pretty sure everyone knew—though we’d tried, we hadn’t exactly been quiet.
“Yeah, Red,” Jason said, grinning wickedly. “I could boost your power the whole time.”
I elbowed him gently at the lame innuendo, and he chuckled. “We’d be too heavy,” I explained to Holly.
“But you’re like, totally small,” Holly said.
Jason leaned closer and murmured near my ear so only I could hear, “You really are very small…I almost couldn’t fit my—”
Cutting off his taunting whisper, I blurted, “I may be small, but he’s huge.” My already blushing cheeks flamed as I realized what I’d just said.
Jason roared in laughter and squeezed my hand while Holly gaped.
“That’s not what…” I trailed off with a sigh, wishing I could execute a foot-from-mouth extraction.
“Whenever you’re finished,” Chris said, settling a wry look on each of us, “I have a suggestion.” She looked at me. “Maybe today you could just use your mental ‘observation’ while we’re on the road. If you need to actually use your telepathy, I’m sure Romeo here,” she glanced at Jason, “…will be close enough to touch. That work?”
Jason flipped her off, and I nodded in agreement.
Chris added, “Maybe it’d be a good idea for you to not speak out loud at all, to always use your telepathy…it’ll be like intensive training for your brain. It’d be nice if we could get you strong enough that you don’t even need him.” She nodded in Jason’s direction.
I shrugged and said, “sounds good,” in her head, then turned to Jason. His expression had blanked—a sure sign that he was hiding some strong emotion. Making a wild guess, I said to him alone, “Don’t worry…I’m sure you can give me some other reasons to keep you around…”
His expression didn’t change, but a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. “I’m sure I can,” he said, confusing everyone but me.
~~~~~
Five hours later, we were hugging the mountainside as we rode along snow-covered Highway 50, just south of Lake Tahoe. It was snowing steadily, and we were all hunched over in our saddles, trying to retain as much body heat as possible. All of a sudden, a fairly large cluster of people burst into life in my mind, momentarily destabilizing my control over my Ability. I slowed Wings, which was Jason’s signal to stop the rest of the group. He always rode beside me, especially since being in observation mode made me semi-oblivious to my surroundings.
“There’s a large group about five miles ahead…they’re either on or near the road. And they’re stationary,” I told him, glad I didn’t have to lower the wool scarf wrapped around my face to speak out loud.
Jason relayed the information to the rest of our group and removed one of his gloves before reaching for my hand. He gently pulled one of my own fleece-lined gloves off and intertwined his fingers with mine, asking me to communicate with some of the creatures near the group of strangers.
Surprisingly, Mr. Grayson was the first to comment on the news. “I don’t know what you’re planning,” he said, looking at Jason. “But…I think we should seriously consider staying with these people tonight.” When Jason and Chris both looked at him dubiously, he explained, “I doubt the snow will let up any time soon, and it will be far easier to protect ourselves from the elements in an established camp. We can’t forget that these are the same mountains that defeated the Donner Party so gruesomely.”
After several minutes of discussion, everyone agreed that, for once, approaching other people would be worth the risk. As my companions briefly strategized, I received information from a couple of my scouts. I relayed their intel to Jason and Chris.“The eagle said the two-legs cover an area about the size of the water next to her nest…not a big help, I know, but the bird seemed proud of the size of her lake. Plenty of fish for her young, or something like that. From what I can tell, I definitely think there’s more than a hundred of them, but I’ll be able to tell more when we’re closer. Oh, and the mountain lions said they smell like good meat, not like the bad meat two-legs they’ve been coming across. So…I’m guessing they’re not Crazies?”
Jason stared at me, unblinking, his face unreadable. I smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.
“I didn’t know mountain lions ate people,” Chris said.
Ky moved his horse closer and asked, “Mountain lions? What are you talking about?”
Seeing his confusion, I included Ky in my next thought. “Sorry Ky. Maybe, maybe not, Chris, but they said they’ve come across a bunch of dead two-legs—not sick, just wrong. They didn’t say anything about eating them, just that they were ‘bad meat’.”
“That’s creepy,” Ky said silently.
I shrugged. “They’re predators…it’s what they are. Can you sense anything?
”
He shook his head. “Too far. Maybe in a couple miles.”
Jason cut in, “Okay, well let’s keep moving. We can talk as we ride.”
Jason and the others came up with a plan that we would stick to unless Ky sensed impending violence—we would approach the strangers as a group, with Ky and Ben feeding their impressions to me, which I would then share with the rest of our group telepathically. If anyone lied or intended us harm, we’d know. I would pretend to be a deaf mute, requiring Jason to lead me around, and therefore have an excuse to hold his hand, boosting my power the entire time. When touching him, I could maintain constant contact with every member of my group.
It was late afternoon, and we were nearing the large group of strangers when I sensed two of them start to move directly to the left of us—in our direction. “A couple of them are headed straight for us…I think they know we’re here,” I told Jason as I dismounted, trying not to sink too far into the snow. He followed suit, grabbing for my hand as soon as his boots hit the snow-covered highway.
“Tell everyone. Remind them not to talk to you out loud. Not ever,” he told me, and I nodded, doing as he ordered.
The crunch of twigs and crusty snow preceded the pair’s arrival. A man and woman, both exceptionally unremarkable-looking, emerged from between the pines and firs that lined the road. They wore jeans, navy-blue down jackets, and hiking boots.
“Greetings travelers,” the man said, quickly followed by the woman’s, “We’ve been expecting you.”
“Really?” Jason asked doubtfully.
The man gestured to the abandoned highway. “The Prophet Mary foretold your passage along this road.”
“Ben says he’s telling the truth,” I told my group. “This Mary chick must be able to do something ‘special’ too.”
Using a significant amount of false charm, Jason grinned and said, “Well, lucky us! We’ve been looking for more people. Gets pretty lonely out here. Are there many more of you?”
The Ending Series: The Complete Series Page 41
