Mistake Me Not

by Scarlett Finn

  On her final ripple he slowed to press his fingers between them, massaging the still raw nerve endings. With that motion his mouth closed over hers though his eyes remained open, a fierce flare shattered sending her another gasping explosion, digging her nails so far into him that she could have drawn blood.

  The calm rhythm he’d adopted vanished back to the punishing pound that once again had her screaming his name. Forcing his arm under her hips, he smacked her g-spot, which had her yelping for his mercy. With a conquering roar he slammed into her then stilled while shudders of bliss wracked her, her inner muscles clamped him in position like a vice, and if she could she’d have kept him right there forever.

  His arms buckled bringing him down on top of her. The weight on her provided elusive security, the rightness of being here under him, wrapped in his heat as he was still wrapped within her. After a dozen breaths, he rolled to the side keeping her body locked against his in the vice of his arms.

  Stroking her hair from her cheek, he directed her head onto his tee-shirt clad shoulder. Turning her lips toward him she kissed the cotton, then his jaw settling herself against him.

  ‘Let me take this off,’ he muttered urging her to sit up while he reached to the back of his neck to grasp his tee-shirt.

  ‘We should get downstairs,’ she said gathering her towel and wrapping herself in it again when she clambered off the bed.

  ‘I just got out the joint Baby; I’m not through with you yet.’

  Glancing back at him she appreciated his presence once more then went into the bathroom to clean up. When she got out he was sitting on the end of the bed wearing a new tee-shirt and pair of jeans.

  ‘They released you,’ she said retrieving clothes and changing in the privacy of the walk-in only to about face and see him leaning on the door frame.

  ‘Is it sexier if I tell you I broke out?’

  ‘What happened?’ she asked stepping into him.

  ‘They found Booth yesterday.’

  ‘Alive?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ryder said. ‘He started talking in the car before they got to the station.’

  ‘What about Eric?’ she asked.

  ‘He got his deal.’

  ‘What does that mean? Did they drop all of the charges against you?’

  ‘Everything they charged me with based on Wallace’s evidence. There’s a lot of frustration. But, Booth’s got the evidence. He laid it all out... turned out he hadn’t trusted Wallace from the start, he covered his back, which as it happens means he covered mine.’

  ‘I have to tell Sorcha,’ Lacie said rushing forward only to be hampered by his obstruction. ‘What?’

  His hand covered her cheek and his thumb traced her bottom lip back and forth. ‘I missed you.’

  Six weeks apart, a hospital stay, a foreign trip, and a visit to the slammer, things hadn’t been plain sailing. What she felt now could be attributed to the intensity of events, but she wanted this feeling to last more than she’d wanted anything before.

  ‘When are you moving?’ she asked.

  ‘I think we have a few things to clear up before we decide, don’t you?’

  ‘We,’ she said unable to stop her smile from spreading.

  ‘Yes, we,’ he said taking her hands and hooking them over his shoulders while moseying himself in closer. ‘Do you think I’ll let you use me for my body without a commitment?’

  ‘From me or you?’ she asked.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked manoeuvring her back to the wall.

  ‘I couldn’t make any promises,’ she said. ‘You are just out of prison; you’d be quite a risk for a girl to take.’

  ‘You put out the second you saw me. You’re every guy’s wet dream.’

  ‘Lacie?’

  The voice from the bedroom interrupted their flirtation. Ryder let her slide free of his embrace to meet Gabe in the bedroom.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

  ‘Something’s happened,’ Gabe said.

  ‘You’re telling me,’ she said.

  Gabe’s concern transformed to surprise so she surmised that Ryder had entered from the walk-in behind her. His hand slipped to her shoulder and she tilted her head to press her cheek to his fingers thus ensuring nothing was miscommunicated.

  ‘You’re back,’ Gabe said. ‘We heard you got out. But we didn’t know—‘

  ‘I thought security here was meant to be top-notch,’ Lacie said.

  ‘It’s his security,’ Gabe said.

  ‘Man has a point,’ Ryder said. His grasp drifted from her shoulder on his retreat back to the walk-in.

  ‘Sorcha’s on her way over,’ Gabe said.

  ‘They found Booth yesterday,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t they tell us that—‘

  ‘They were cutting the deal for Eric. The DA only approved it early this morning.’

  ‘So, he’s talking now?’

  ‘Yes,’ Gabe said.

  ‘I don’t understand how all of this... I don’t understand this. I thought Booth was dead.’

  ‘They got Stone out quickly. He always says it pays to have friends everywhere because you never know what you’re going to need. Has he been here long?’

  ‘Long enough,’ Ryder said re-entering and kissing the top of her had when he passed.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ Gabe asked.

  Lacie followed Gabe’s line of vision to see Ryder dump a holdall and a suitcase on the unmade bed they’d not so long ago enjoyed.

  ‘I don’t know, are we?’ Lacie asked.

  ‘We’re getting out of here,’ Ryder said.

  ‘No, I want to know what’s going on. We can’t run away from this, we’re part of it.’

  ‘It won’t look too good Boss,’ Gabe said. ‘You go on the run the minute they let you out, and with the girl who’s been abducted already.’

  ‘No one’s abducting me,’ she said. ‘It’s ok to be cautious but we’re safe here. I’ve been staying here and I’m fine.’

  A shrill buzz startled them all but it was Ryder who pointed to the phone on the wall. ‘That’s the private line,’ Ryder said. ‘Have you been phoning out?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I hadn’t even noticed it was there.’

  ‘This has been Lacie’s room,’ Gabe said. ‘And if she hasn’t called out... someone wants to get in touch with her.’

  Lacie took the lead in going to the phone. If they wanted her she’d deliver and chances were the caller would want to discuss Ryder’s guilt, or the prospect of his innocence.

  ‘Hello?’ she asked when she answered.

  ‘Lacie!’

  The sobbing fear of her best friend formed icicles around her heart. ‘Sorch?’

  ‘He wants you to come! He says it’s you. He wants you! But, Lace, oh God—‘her scream stabbed at Lacie’s heart.

  Lacie hadn’t realised her legs had given out until Ryder caught her.

  ‘Hello Lacie,’ Wallace’s voice drawled down the line. ‘Come and meet us. Sorcha and her baby would really appreciate it.’

  ‘You’re crazy. Don’t hurt her. Please, don’t—‘

  ‘You better get down to the warehouse at West Hicks. You come alone, and you come now. Tick-tock Lacie, you know what happens when I’m out of patience... you haven’t been behaving yourself.’

  Lacie didn’t bother hanging up when the line went dead. She scrambled from Ryder’s arms and went straight for the door but his grip on her hand tugged her back.

  ‘What?’ Ryder asked at the same moment the bedroom door burst open to show Rocco.

  ‘He’s out,’ Rocco said not even blinking at Ryder who still had a hold of her.

  ‘Out?’ Gabe asked. ‘How the—‘

  ‘Something happened in the jail; Wallace was complaining of chest pains, he collapsed. An ambulance was taking him to the hospital and... Sonny got it over the scanner. We don’t know what head start he got, both paramedics are receiving medical attention, and the guard that was with him is dead. There’s a manhunt but—‘ />
  ‘He has Sorcha,’ Lacie said.

  ‘She was on her way over here,’ Gabe said.

  ‘He must have intercepted her,’ Ryder said. ‘Probably at the gate, if he was watching—‘

  ‘I have to go,’ Lacie said. ‘I have to get to her.’

  ‘We’ll mobilise if—‘Rocco was cut off.

  ‘There’s no time,’ Lacie pleaded while trying to wrench her hand from Ryder.

  ‘I just got you back,’ Ryder said.

  ‘He wants me to go alone,’ she said.

  ‘You’ll have me with you.’

  ‘No, he doesn’t—‘

  ‘He probably doesn’t know that Ryder’s out,’ Gabe said. ‘Wallace won’t mind the audience when it’s Ryder he’s trying to retaliate against.’

  ‘Retaliate for what?’ Rocco asked.

  ‘I have to go!’ Lacie pleaded.

  ‘No,’ Ryder said tugging her into his arms. ‘Give me a minute to think about this.’

  ‘You can trust us,’ Gabe said. ‘You have to trust us.’

  ‘I trust you,’ Lacie said twisting out of Ryder’s embrace. ‘I’m going and I’m going now. He’s at the warehouse in West Hicks.’

  ‘That complex has been deserted for years, it’s four streets over,’ Rocco said.

  ‘He knows the grounds as well as we do,’ Gabe said. ‘We did some training exercises out there.’

  ‘But he doesn’t have back-up,’ Ryder said. ‘Lacie and I will do the approach. You do not let him leave.’

  ‘You trust us?’ Gabe asked.

  ‘You’ve been looking after my girl,’ Ryder said. ‘We need your help.’

  The men immediately went into combat mode discussing plans and strategies. All of them got to the HQ building but while the men headed for the war room Lacie diverted toward the stairwell. She stopped, glancing back at Ryder who spied her departure from the group.

  ‘I’m glad you got out,’ she said. ‘And that we had this morning.’

  Ryder said something quietly to Gabe who disappeared into the war room with Rocco. ‘Let’s go,’ Ryder said guiding her down the stairwell.

  ‘You don’t have to come with me,’ she said. ‘If you men have things to—‘

  ‘She’s your best friend,’ Ryder said taking keys from a coded panel on the garage wall. ‘Let’s go and get her.’

  He’d proved she was his priority and now he showed that her priorities trumped his.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Getting down into the basement garage and into the truck, they didn’t talk. When he put it into gear, she covered his hand with hers, which stalled him.

  ‘You’ve been incredible through all of this,’ she said.

  He curled his fingers around hers to take her hand up to his mouth. ‘Entirely selfish,’ he said. ‘I plan to make you pay back all of my good deeds.’

  ‘You do, do you?’ she asked while his eyes trailed down her body.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I’ll take payment in frequent and exclusive access to your body.’

  ‘If your friend gets his way there won’t be much of it left.’

  The reminder struck to the centre of him and his expression became immediately stony. ‘We’ll get her back and you’re both walking away from this.’

  Her panic for Sorcha grew. ‘What about you?’

  Ryder’s lack of response did nothing to calm her, and his brutal navigation of the truck out of the garage and onto the road worried her because now was the time she needed him thinking, level-headed, and in control. But, she knew he’d taken so much responsibility for Wallace’s actions that she worried what the outcome would be if Ryder’s irrationality continued.

  Rocco hadn’t been wrong about the proximity of the site; almost before the journey had begun it was over. Ryder put on the brake, inhaled, then looked at her.

  ‘No risks,’ Ryder said. ‘I want you to stay behind me. I’ll get Sorcha out of there.’

  ‘I won’t take any risks if you don’t,’ she said and because she knew he would argue with her, and they were on a clock, she got out of the truck and headed straight for the warehouse.

  Ryder was on her immediately but she kept going. When he got to her side, he didn’t try to stop her, he linked his fingers between hers, and the show of support strengthened her resolve. Gently easing back, he slowed their pace, and tucked her behind him by moving their joined hands to his lower back.

  In the past, a metal shutter would have covered the large goods entrance, but this complex had been abandoned for years so it was no more. As they approached, Ryder closed in on the brick wall making sure she had cover while he exposed himself to the danger.

  ‘You get everywhere, don’t you Stone?’

  Lacie heard the echoing voice but Ryder kept her on the outside of the wall behind him.

  ‘What are you playing at now? Ryder demanded. His voice was firm but not half as menacing as Wallace’s was.

  ‘Thought you were locked up,’ Wallace said.

  ‘Thought you were too, where’s Sorcha?’

  ‘Waiting for Lacie, did you bring her?’

  ‘You don’t want her. This is about you and me.’

  ‘You?’ Wallace spat, but still she hadn’t clapped eyes on him, or the interior of the building. ‘This has nothing to do with you.’

  ‘Yeah right, how did you get involved in this in the first place?’

  ‘Money, you egotistical fucker! You think this is all about you? I’ve been doing this for years, little here, little there when the chance presented itself. Then I found Booth and regular income. The guy’s a whimpering, snivelling idiot.’

  ‘Not such an idiot,’ Ryder said. ‘He’s got you marked. He kept the details of every transaction, exactly where it went, and your finger prints are all over it.’

  ‘Too bad he’s dead then, huh?’

  ‘No, got that one wrong too. Eric kept him alive, Booth’s been hiding out... but the police have got him now and he’s singing their tune.’

  ‘Typical, looking after number one I should’ve known it; can’t trust anyone,’ Wallace said.

  ‘That’s the trouble with screwing people over; everyone’s waiting for when you’ll do it to them.’

  ‘You never saw it coming,’ Wallace sniggered. ‘You really bought all that “all for one” nonsense. You never saw it. You never saw it coming.’

  ‘No, but that’s what trust is, isn’t it? How many years did you chase after me?’ Ryder asked. ‘Trotting around in my shadow.’

  ‘I did not! You! You think it’s all about you!’

  A splintering sound startled her and Ryder tightened his hold on her hand but didn’t avert his eyes for a second.

  ‘You’ve got a bit of a temper there Jaim, always struggled to keep your horses tethered didn’t you?’

  ‘Enough!’ Wallace shouted. ‘No more talk. Where’s the girl? Get the girl now!’

  ‘Do you really think you’re in a position to be giving the orders?’ Ryder asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Wallace said, and a clatter preceded a scream that Lacie recognised.

  Lacie darted around Ryder, discarding his hand, and she got at least three feet into the building when Ryder got a hold of her and pulled her back.

  The building was bare concrete walls with pale flaking paint, and a rusting staircase to a questionably stable mezzanine floor. Old broken machinery littered the space along with sporadic greenery and a hearty scattering of rodent and bird faeces.

  But there behind a stack of oil drums beside an old production line was Wallace still in his prison overalls, his eyes wild and burning with an unfounded satisfaction. Except maybe it was founded because he held Sorcha in front of him, on her knees, Wallace’s grip twisting in her hair, Sorcha’s hand was over his. She cried out and reached toward Lacie but there was twenty feet between them and her.

  ‘That’s right,’ Wallace said. ‘Why don’t you come over here little Lacie, come and join us.’

  ‘Let her go,’ Lacie said. �
��You don’t need her.’

  ‘She’s serving her purpose well,’ Wallace said. ‘She brought us back together, didn’t she?’

  ‘So I’m here now, you don’t need her. What is it you want? Why are you here? Why did you come back?’ Lacie asked.

  ‘I came for you,’ Wallace said. ‘You’re going to come on a trip with me.’

  ‘She’s going nowhere,’ Ryder said insinuating himself in front of Lacie.

  ‘Not really your decision mi compadre,’ Wallace said. ‘I think that’s up to the girl.’

  ‘What do you want from her?’ Ryder asked.

  Wallace laughed absurdly given the situation. ‘Turns out some things are about you.’

  ‘You want her because you think I want her,’ Ryder said.

  ‘The stupid girl started all of this. She was the one who got you digging. None of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for her.’

  ‘You did this to yourself,’ Ryder said.

  ‘You’re obsessed with that girl. I’ve never seen you so... from the minute you met her you’ve been different.’

  ‘Are you trying to imply if it wasn’t for Lacie I wouldn’t have had a problem with what you’re doing?’

  ‘No, I did this for years. I’m telling you that if it wasn’t for her you’d never have noticed.’

  Wallace wrenched Sorcha back by her hair causing another curdling scream.

  ‘Let her go,’ Ryder said. ‘We can work this out. Come on we’ve never met a problem we couldn’t fix together.’

  ‘You don’t give a fuck about together, don’t insult me! Now get over here Lacie or your friend will get a bullet in her brain!’

  From his side Wallace produced a gun training it first on Sorcha then lifting it to aim at Ryder.

  ‘You can go ahead and shoot me,’ Ryder said.

  ‘Then I can have both the women,’ Wallace said.