Midas Touch (The Hollows Book 1)

by Penny Cavan

  “Are you going to stand there like a statue, Harlow, or are you going to bring your man inside?” I jumped and looked to the right, where Meg was leaning on a windowsill and looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Midas chuckled next to me. I rolled my eyes and strode in like I belonged there. Midas followed along. “I was wondering when you’d make it back here.” She stepped out of her office, wrapping me in a hug and giving me a brief kiss. “Niko told me what happened,” she whispered in my ear. “Are you alright?”

  “Midas, this is my best friend in the entire world, Meg,” I said with a wide grin, stepping back from her with a wicked grin. “Meg, this is my kidnapper, Midas. Feel free to berate him as much as you wish. Maybe he’ll give me back to you.” Her eyes went wide but she curtsied prettily to Midas.

  “Berate as much as you wish, Miss Meg,” he said gallantly, “but I fear Harlow will not be leaving my dastardly clutches.” Meg snorted.

  “You imply that we want her back,” she said, laughing when I made an offended sound. Ever the gracious hostess, Meg motioned for us to move to the comfortable couches in the sitting area. In a few more hours, these chairs would be full of gentlemen watching girls dance and waiting for one who might look with favor upon them, but Midas showed no issues as he sat. I hopped up on the small stage where I could stretch and work off some of my energy. Once I got there, I frowned.

  I was only wearing a pair of lacy panties under this skirt and I would be showing them off to both Midas and Meg if I stretched as I normally did. I looked over and caught Midas with a look as if he was daring me to do it. Meg looked back and forth between us for a moment before sighing. “I could cut the tension between the two of you with a knife,” she said tartly. “Harlow, anything you’d be showing off, I’ve seen before. Don’t stop burning off some of that energy of yours on my account.” Midas practically broke his neck snapping his head over to stare at Meg with his jaw slack. Meg winked at me, showing that she was having fun teasing the man. “Harlow regularly comes here,” she told him. “And she often partakes in showing off the delectable body she was granted.” I shrugged and sat, spreading my legs into a vee.

  “I wouldn’t know the truth of its delectability,” Midas said smoothly. “I have yet to see it in all of its glory.” He turned back to me. “Harlow told me how you took her in.”

  “She’s a loveable stray, that’s for sure. What I want to hear is how you plan on making up to her, and to her friends, for kidnapping her.” Just like Meg to delve into the heart of the matter. Grayce came from the kitchen with a tray of mugs and a pot of tea. She giggled and batted her eyelashes at Midas, and I had to hold back a growl. Midas eyed her breasts and smiled, then turned and rolled his eyes at me. Grayce looked at me with a wide smile. I rolled my eyes at both of them and leaned forward to stretch out by back. I heard Meg thank Grayce and tell her that she didn’t want us to be disturbed.

  “Anything you desire, fair maiden, and it shall be yours,” Midas answered, and I almost gagged. Who was this person?

  “Cut the crap,” Meg said, and the change in her tone of voice told me that we were alone. “Why did you kidnap her, and why have you brought her back?” Midas laughed fully at her candor and my insides melted just a little.

  “She stole from me. I wanted to know who had the balls to do that, and I was entranced. I brought her back because I want her to like me so I can convince her to stay with me.” It was an honest answer. I shifted, bringing both of my legs in front of me and stretching forward again. My skirt was now flared around me, by lace covered ass on the wooden stage. “Aren’t you afraid to get splinters?” he asked me curiously.

  “My employees dance up there naked as the day they were born without a splinter in sight,” Meg answered crossly. “You’ll never convince her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

  “Meg,” I said with a sigh, leaning on one elbow, “he’s agreed to help figure out what’s happening to the Hollows. I don’t know if it’s because he believes me or not, but we need him to unravel that research.”

  “Oh, so he knows what the sexy-coline stuff is?” she said sarcastically.

  “I think you mean succinylcholine,” Midas said smoothly, “and it’s a paralytic. Before the Fall, it was used with other drugs in combination during surgeries. It’s difficult to find now. The research you’re talking about was into developing a serum to be used for medical uses that would, essentially, create a moveable statue. The patient wouldn’t be able to move and disrupt what the doctors were doing, and, at the same time, have the nervous system blocked from transferring pain. We called it MSX-42-102213, or Medusa Serum.”

  “Oh, so you’ll tell Meg, who you just met, what the research is, but you wouldn’t tell me?” I asked, glaring at him.

  “You trust her, and I trust you,” he said. “Besides, you said we needed to give and take.” I sighed and looked over at Meg to see what she thought. Her golden skin had gone pale, and her eyes looked haunted. Her hands shook as she brought her mug to her face.

  “Why did you name it after Medusa?” she asked, keeping her eyes on her mug.

  “The head scientist and I based it off the legends of the gorgons,” Midas said, watching her. “Medusa is the most famous of them. It was the idea of turning a human to a statue.”

  “That’s not how a gorgon’s power works,” Meg said softly.

  “Meg?” I asked gently, “what is it?” She didn’t even look at me. I stepped from the stage and went to sit by her. “Meg you’re freezing. What’s wrong?” She shook her head and looked up at me quickly.

  “It’s nothing, Harlow. Now, why would someone want that research?” she asked Midas.

  “It wasn’t successful in the way we wanted it to be. The first rounds of tests, the paralytic effect didn’t last long enough, only a few minutes. It was designed to wear off on its own, but the effects needed to last long enough. We were able to eventually extend that time to about four hours, but that was when we discovered that it didn’t have the second effect.” He sighed and stood, going to stand by the window. “We had volunteers who agreed to take the serum and let us poke them with pins to test the effect of the pain blocking. They said that it was horrific. They could feel everything from touch to temperature to pain, but they couldn’t speak. They couldn’t tell us. All they could do was bear it. We were horrified and immediately ended the project. We sealed the research in a box and put it in my vault, vowing never to bring it to light again, and we moved on to other projects. Allan, the head scientist on that project, eventually was able to refine a liquid called ether that had been used for medical procedures in the long ago past to do something similar, although pain management is still an issue.”

  “Why would someone say that Harlow should look there for the answer to what is happening to the Hollows?”

  A sickening, dark thought crossed my mind. “Midas,” I said, turning to him, trying not to believe the horror that I was thinking. “Could the serum have gotten out? Could someone who knew of it told someone else?”

  “It would have been an incredible breech of privacy for the company, but only four people knew of the project. Nigel, Allan, Craig, Allan’s second-in-command, and me. Allan was horrified and wanted to forget the project ever happened. Nigel and I locked the box in the vault and swore to never speak of it again. Nigel didn’t know the specifics of it anyway. Craig died a few months after the project ended. No one could quite define what from, but it was decreed to be a natural death.”

  “That’s still three people who knew the specifics. Someone could have told,” Meg looked at me as we both came to the same conclusion.

  “What would happen if someone had adjusted the serum so that it didn’t wear off?” I asked, my stomach roiling. Midas looked between the two of us.

  “It was almost impossible to make it last for a few hours. Making it indefinite would have been even more difficult.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “If it could have been made indefinit
e, then the subject would have eventually died of thirst or hunger. They’d have been cocooned in their body as their bodily systems eventually failed, but they would have looked as if they’d just fallen asleep.” I stared at him in horror, then bolted to the windows, throwing up into the plants just outside.

  “They’re killing people by locking them in their skins,” Meg said, almost at a whisper.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Midas

  Harlow hadn’t spoken a word since the revelation at Meg’s. I still wasn’t sure the serum could do what they believed it was, but I wasn’t going to discredit what they believed. I was more worried about Harlow. When we’d arrived at home, she had walked like a zombie to the library, curling up in a chair in the sun. Her eyes were haunted, and she was still shivering when I wrapped a blanket around her. I retreated to the other side of the library where I could keep an eye on her without it seeming as if that’s what I was doing.

  She spent the afternoon staring out the window. When Ameliya brought her food, more of the monkey bread she’d loved so much just yesterday morning, she’d only picked at it before pushing it away. Eventually, I suggested she take a hot shower and go to bed. We’d talk to Nigel in the morning and get more answers. She nodded mutely, walking away.

  “Harlow,” I called after her. She paused, turning her head slightly, but not looking at me. “My bed is yours, if you want it.” She stayed where she was, then walked away. With a heavy sigh, I gathered her plate and went to the kitchen to return it to Ameliya.

  “What did you do to Harlow?” she asked me crossly, hands on her hips.

  “I didn’t do anything except tell her something she wanted to know. My information was a puzzle piece she needed.” I sank onto a stool at the counter and rubbed a hand over my face. I growled, feeling the leather of my glove and ripped them off. Ameliya raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m afraid that’s going to take a little more explanation, my buck,” she said warmly, washing the dishes in the sink.

  “The information that she stole and was trying to figure out was as piece of the puzzle she’s working on. From what she believes, it’s a dark, evil piece.”

  “And you’re to blame?”

  “I don’t know. She definitely blames herself, but I don’t know if she blames me.” I sighed again. “I don’t know how to help her.”

  Ameliya leaned against the sink, drying her hands. She was silent for several minutes, leaving the sound of dripping water to echo in the room. Eventually she sighed herself. “We did you a disservice, raising you as we did,” she said, looking over to a black and white picture of myself as a boy with a younger Ameliya and four other servants. “We treated you as the Master of the House because you were, but we hid emotion from you. If Old Cribb were here, he would tell you that all bees pollinate differently.” Old Cribb had been the gardener when I was a child.

  “Mrs. McGivern would sigh and tell him the world was not all pollination,” I said, smiling slightly as I thought of my governess. She had stayed with me long past the age I needed a governess.

  “That’s true,” Ameliya said, her eyes twinkling. “But the point of the matter is that men and women react differently to different things. You don’t need to do anything to help her except be there if she needs something from you.”

  “It hurts to see her so quiet. She hasn’t argued about anything since she heard.”

  “She’ll come back when she’s done thinking,” Amelia said, waving her towel at me. “Give her the night to rest and don’t treat her like she’s fragile.”

  “Harlow is about as fragile as one of those old explosives that Father liked to set off in the back fields,” I said with a chuckle, causing Ameliya to laugh.

  “Give her time,” Ameliya said again, shooing me from the kitchen

  I worked for a few hours in my office, but once again paused outside Harlow’s door. I could hear her tossing and turning, and thought about knocking, but I followed Ameliya’s advice and left her alone. In my own room, I stared at the ceiling, thinking. I couldn’t be sure that there were no adult Hollows in society. Some gifts, like Nigel’s, were subtle and unnoticeable. We’d done numerous demographic studies for various projects over the years, and there was a decrease in population after the age of five. Was it possible that the children were being killed? There was nothing definitive to confirm or deny the story. I shook my head and rolled on my side, punching the pillow to make it more comfortable.

  I took a deep breath, smelling the same bright scent that followed Harlow around. It reminded me of a cold dessert that Ameliya made with oranges and vanilla. I groaned, feeling my cock get hard. I wrapped my hand around it and closed my eyes, imagining her laugh and dancing eyes. I rocked my hips, twisting my hand to use the precum at the tip to lube the skin, groaning. Even as a teenager, I’d never felt like this.

  I tried not to groan when I heard a light knock on the door. I let my cock go and rolled on my back, breathing deeply, trying to get myself under control. The door opened and closed quietly, and whoever came in tiptoed to the side of the bed. I looked over to see Harlow in a simple nightdress. I help up the side of the blankets and she crawled into the bed, curling so she wasn’t facing me. I rolled back on my side, watching her. She was so tense that she actually did remind me of one of the explosives my father had enjoyed. I reached out and she flinched when I touched her arm, curling up further on herself. With a sigh, I pulled her into my chest, nestling her head under my chin. “It’s okay, Harlow,” I said softly. “We will fix this.” She wrapped her hand around mine, and I listened as her breath slowed and she relaxed into sleep.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Harlow

  I woke before Midas the next morning, curled into his side. My head rested on his shoulder, my hand on his chest, and one leg thrown over his. I flattened my hand over his smooth chest, running a finger around a nipple and smiling when it came to a peak. He made a sound and I froze, turning my eyes up to his. He was still asleep. I looked down his body to see a mound in the covers. I grinned evilly. I knew one thing that would definitely make me feel better this morning. I wondered how much he could sleep through.

  I slid my hand down his chest, pulling the blanket down with me. I could feel the trail of hair that led to his cock under my hand when he moved restlessly. “Shhh,” I murmured, pausing. After a moment he settled, the arm behind my back tightening and pulling me closer to him. I flipped the blanket, letting it land on his knees and froze, hoping I hadn’t woken him. A few breaths assured me he was still sleeping. I slid out from under his arm as smoothly as I could and knelt by his hips, carefully untying his sleep pants. I couldn’t pull them out from under him, but I had enough to pull them down and see his cock.

  I ran a finger along the crease between his hip and his leg and his cock twitched. Midas groaned and arched his back, murmuring something I couldn’t quite catch. Still smiling, I began to run my fingertips gently up and down his cock, watching it bounce. I wondered if he’d taste as good as he looked. I leaned over and kissed just below his belly button on the trail of hair leading down, the tip of his cock against my chin. I’d only have to turn my head and I’d have him in my mouth. I kissed down toward the base of it instead. The buildup was everything. I nuzzled the bottom of his cock and his hand came to the back of my head. I glanced up and saw his eyes blinking sleepily at me.

  “Harlow?” he asked. “What are you—Shit.” I wrapped my mouth around the tip, my hand wrapping around the base. I watched his head fall back as he gasped. His hand tightened in my hair and his hips jerked up. I was ready for it, my hand stopping him from pushing too far into my mouth. I ran my tongue around the tip, trying not to laugh at the ragged breaths coming from him. After a moment I pulled my mouth off him with a pop and grinned up at him.

  “Good morning,” I said brightly, pumping his cock with my hand. He looked at me completely stunned. He was panting as he stared at me. “What?” I asked. “Have you never woken up to a blowjob?” I d
ucked down and quickly licked from the base to the tip. He shook his head. “That’s a pity. I could stop if you want me to…?” I asked, running my fingers up the same path my tongue had just travelled.

  “If you stop,” he growled, “it will not be pretty.” He bucked his hips up towards me. I laughed merrily and moved between his legs. I pulled at his pants and he lifted his hips so I could push them down properly. I only pushed them to mid-thigh, putting my knees on them to trap him. He fisted my hair again and brought me back to his cock. I looked up to meet his eyes as I slid my mouth down as far as I could go. The breath left him in one gasp. How long would he let me keep this up?

  I wrapped my hand around his cock and lightly ran it up and down as I turned to his balls. I ran the tip of my tongue along the seam in the middle of his sack and grinned again as he started swearing. His hand fisted in the sheet next to me as I ran my tongue along the seam again. The third time, I continued up his cock, moving my hands to hold his wrist down. He bucked his hips up, groaning. “Harlow, please,” he panted, and I lifted my head, laughing slightly.

  “You want me to stop?” I asked innocently. He growled fighting against my grip on his wrists. I got distracted by the way that his muscles moved under his skin.

  “For the love of God, don’t stop,” he groaned. I looked up at him, his eyes closed and a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. I leaned up and kissed him, my tongue sliding into his mouth. He broke my hold and pulled me up, my legs straddling his hips. I groaned as my pussy came in contact with his cock. I rocked my hips against him, sliding my pussy along him. He swore again, his arms wrapping around my back and his head dropping against my shoulder. I threw my head back as I lifted myself up so that the head of his cock was ready to slide into me.

  “Sir?” Nigel said, knocking loudly on the door.