The Way Home

by Shannon Flagg

  “It was Fire,” Houdini told her. “No one else would have the skill. No one else would care.”

  “He was a Griever in the end, Houdini. Why preserve anything to do with The Vikings? It just doesn't make sense.”

  “And if he's one of the bodies in that grave, we'll never know why. The one thing that doesn't fit is Fire and a kid. He didn't have an Old Lady.”

  “No special girl?”

  “He was too intense for most of the girls that hung around. If anything, they'd go with him once and then not again. Most of the time he paid for it, said it was the most honest way to get off.”

  “That's romantic,” she said dryly. “Were you too intense for most of the girls that hung around?”

  “I slept with a lot of them—well not slept, really.” Houdini couldn't help but grin at the memory. He'd been a horn dog, always sniffing around a warm and willing female. He'd had a few favorites but hadn't even given them any thought since he'd seen Susan. “Does that make you jealous?”

  “Don't flatter yourself.” She rolled her eyes at him, but he felt her body relaxing under his touch. “Can we go and wait in the other room?”

  Houdini led her from the room, sensed that what she'd seen had shifted something inside of her once again. He kept his hands on her, guided her into the apartment and shut the door. “You okay?”

  “No,” she replied. “I feel like... I feel like I'm losing it. I don't know what the right thing to do is.”

  “None of us do. I sure as shit don't.” Houdini brought his hands up to cup her face. “We'll figure it out, one way or the other, and the only way we're going to do that is together. I know it's scary, but we've got to be on the same page, Susan. Are we?”

  “The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, Houdini. I just don't know that I can ever give you as much as you give me.”

  “Are you serious? You give me everything, Susan. Everything. You might not realize it, but you do. I don't expect anything more of you than what you can give me.”

  “Rick did,” she blurted out the words, mouth falling open in horror as if she hadn't intended to speak out loud. “Sorry, I shouldn't have...”

  “Don't apologize,” he ran his thumbs over her cheeks. “I want you to tell me whatever you have to say, whatever it's about. We've just got to hold off a little while. The guys should be here.” Houdini let out a nearly bitter laugh. “The guys, the ragtag group of guys that now make up The Vikings.”

  “I'll admit, they're nowhere as intimidating as the original group, but they've got heart. That counts for a lot.”

  “Yeah, I guess you're right.” Houdini leaned his forehead against hers. “Tonight, we'll stay here. I'll grab candles and shit, make it romantic. Don't think about the other room, just think about this room and it just being us. I'll go and get take out, it'll be fantastic.”

  “I think that you're right. I want Chinese, lots and lots of Chinese.”

  “Deal.” Houdini pulled back, pressed his lips to her forehead.

  Chapter Seven.

  “Next time Deacon tells you to do something, it's probably best to just do like he asks and not fall asleep instead.” Susan handed Eddie Wainwright an ice pack. “Keep it on for fifteen minutes and then give it a break for about fifteen minutes. I'll give you something to take the edge off.”

  “Oxy?” He questioned.

  “Tylenol with codeine is all that you need,” she told him. “Look, you're getting an opportunity here, one that would have taken you at least a year to earn before everything fell to shit. It might be smart for you to take it seriously. If you can't do that, you should walk away.” Susan knew that she was walking a fine line. She didn't want to put her nose too far into club business, although she'd have a little more leeway than most with Houdini, her Old Man, being the new Vice President.

  Things had changed a lot in the last three weeks. The Griever threat was no more; it had been confirmed that the bodies found in the mass grave were the group. Despite best efforts, the bodies were so mangled and mutilated it was hard to tell cause of death or how many bodies there actually were. One thing was clear, they were looking at a new, unknown enemy. Though with each day that passed some were starting to believe whoever had killed The Grievers had simply done them all a favor.

  Susan wasn't convinced of that. Each day that passed made her more certain that when the other shoe dropped, it was going to cause an earthquake. When she thought about the time that passed, it nagged at her conscience that she and Houdini hadn't had the conversation that she'd promised. There just never seemed to be enough time.

  Tonight, she'd make time. Tonight, she'd make an effort to get the apartment looking as good as it could. They did have the luxurious new bed set complete with a sea of comfortable pillows, thanks to her last trip to Walmart. And she'd also picked up a slinky little something. Maybe she could get a pizza and some garlic knots, a nice bottle of wine.

  “Uh, Doc?” Eddie was looking at her oddly. Susan realized that she'd fallen into her own world.

  “Sorry, you're good to go.”

  “Houdini said if you needed a hand with anything, you should let me know.”

  “Actually, I'm pretty swamped today, if you wouldn't mind running a few errands for me.”

  “No problem,” Eddie smiled, “I'm good at errands. Just give me a list and I'll get everything that you need.”

  “Perfect,” Susan wrote out a list on one of the legal pads she was using in place of proper charts. Somehow she's managed to set up shop in the room where they'd found the cradle made out of a drawer. She wasn't sure what had been done with it and didn't know why it haunted her mind so much. “Bring everything here when you're done.” She gave him the note and enough cash to cover the purchases.

  He'd been the only person she was expecting to treat and hopefully had learned to follow closer attention to pesky details like time. Susan closed the door behind her and went over to the apartment. They kept it locked; it made her feel better to use several keys to get into the door. Once inside she stretched her arms over her head and got to work.

  The room was in pretty good shape because there wasn't a whole lot to disturb. Neither of them had many clothes or personal possessions, but they had more than when they arrived. Several times they'd discussed having their things sent from Wyoming, but it felt too hopeful. It was better to wait.

  Susan remade the bed, swept and dusted the floor. She polished the mirror over the dresser that they shared, lit the candles along the surface and stripped down to bare skin. She took her time, spent even more time after blow drying out her hair, painting her nails and toenails. By the time that she slipped into the black nightgown she'd purchased, she felt absolutely gorgeous. It was a feeling that eluded her most days.

  She covered herself with a robe when Eddie returned with what she'd asked for. He refused the ten dollar tip that she offered him and told her that he'd see her later. Now all she had to do was wait for Houdini and hope that the pizza didn't get too cold before he showed up. Even if it did, cold pizza was also pretty damn delicious.

  For a long while she tried to position herself around the room in what she wanted to think of as natural poses. Everything felt wrong, everything felt fake. Finally she just threw herself down on the bed to wait.

  Susan woke to the feeling of lips nuzzling her neck, hair falling over her face. “Having a nice nap? Should I let you go back to sleep and eat all that pizza by myself?”

  Shit. She'd fallen asleep. She hadn't intended to, of course, but apparently she had, because she was stretched out on the bed, Houdini's body warm and hard behind her. “I'm up. I'm so sorry. I had this whole night planned.”

  “Finding you all sexy in bed with pizza has already made it a great night.” His hand moved up and down her side. “Is there something underneath this robe?”

  “There is and it has a lot less material.” She closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of his fingers moving against the material, but she couldn't let that
get her off track. She'd really wanted to make it a nice night for them. “Really, I was going to make a whole night of it. I even lit the candles, see?”

  “Could have burned the place down,” he teased, his teeth nipping down on her shoulder blade. “You didn't have to go to all this trouble.”

  “I wanted to,” Susan stretched her body against his. “Figured we both needed a nice, quiet night.” His hand slid over her hip and she hoped the night wouldn't be too quiet. She could do for some screaming. It hadn't been long since they were together; in fact this was nothing compared to her dry years, but she couldn't stop thinking about him or about sex. She'd just about convinced herself that she didn't miss sex; that was a lie.

  “Nice and quiet sounds good to me. Something tells me that we're not going to have many quiet nights coming up.”

  “Did the scouts find something?”

  “No word from them yet. I talked to Deke on the way over here,” he paused, sighed. “Susan, I need to know how much you want to know when it comes to matters concerning The Vikings. Some old ladies don't want to know anything.”

  “Do you think I'm the don't want to know anything type?” Susan shifted so that she could see him properly. “I want to know anything, everything. I don't want you to feel like you've got to hold back from me.”

  “We're going to grab Ethan Clark.” He spoke the words in a rush as if he expected her to stop him or have some sort of dramatic reaction. “He went to Vera today, made her an offer on New to You, a really good offer, in fact. And he went on and on to her about his new partner who wants to help get Center City back on its feet.”

  “Ethan's never exactly been community minded. The last fund raiser that we did for the hospital, he refused to donate anything. Said that his budget for the year was spent. I can't see him getting a partner who felt differently.

  “Yeah, neither can I. Neither can Deke, especially since right before everything first went to hell, Ethan offered him a million dollars to use his trucks, just the trucks.”

  “A million dollars? What could be worth a million dollars just to transport? Drugs?”

  “We'll find out. We're going to grab him tomorrow.” He paused, seemed to be nervous about something, “if he doesn't talk, we'll grab his wife. Use her as leverage to find out what we want to know.”

  “Leverage?” Susan kept her eyes on his. “And if he still doesn't talk?” For the first time Susan wondered just how far The Vikings would go to get the information they wanted.

  “He'll talk. He's built to talk. Probably won't even have to grab her.” He brought his hand up to her face. “You knew the reputation of The Vikings before we even met.”

  “I know, and I'm not silently judging you, I promise. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.”

  “I've already done some quick searches. The Clark family lives a life that they shouldn't be able to afford. Something's going on.” Houdini pressed his face against hers. “I don't want to talk about this, at least not right now.”

  “Then shut up,” Susan suggested. “But for the record, I'm glad that you're straight with me about it and don't try to hide what you do.”

  “You got something you want to talk about?” In one fluid movement he had her on her back, his body covering hers with most of his weight resting on his elbows so that he didn't crush her.

  “No. Yes. I don't know.” Susan sighed, damn her mind for getting in the way of her body and the release that she so desperately needed. She pushed at his chest. This was not a conversation that she wanted to have, especially when she could think of much better things to do with Houdini on top of her, but it had to be done. She had to say it, get it off her chest, because it had been there too long.

  “You know,” Houdini shifted off of her, stretched out beside her on the bed, “if it's on your mind, I want to hear it.”

  “My ex, and I'm not even sure why I've been thinking of him.” Susan sighed again, forced herself to say his name. “Rick was the kind of guy that everyone admired, looked to for advice and everyone just loved him. I loved him. I loved him so much that I didn't let myself look too closely at the things that weren't so nice about him.”

  “Like what?” Houdini picked up her hand, entwined their fingers together.

  “He was mean, but in a way that no one picked up on. He seemed so sincere but everything out of his mouth was pretty much sarcastic, especially to people he thought were below him. I told myself I was being too critical, thinking too much into it. Everyone loved him, really loved him.”

  “Was he mean to you?”

  Susan knew what he meant without him elaborating. “He never hit me. He preferred words to fists. I look back now, and I cringe. I don't know whatever possessed me to think that I could tell him the truth.” She stared down at their joined hands, found strength in them and realized she'd feared talking about Rick would bother him. It really didn't seem to and that pleased her immensely.

  “You were in love,” his voice was a low caress. “And you wanted to believe the best in the man you loved. I'm sorry that he disappointed you.”

  “I am, too. But really, I don't know what I was thinking.” Susan let out a bitter laugh. “He hated animals, just hated them. He used to go out of his way to try and run over anything in the road. How sick is that? Oh, he'd make like it was a joke if I was riding with him, but I just knew that he did it for real if I wasn't there.”

  “That's fucked up.”

  “It's all fucked up now that I think about it, and I've been thinking about it a lot. I think that's why I tried to pull back from you. This all scares me. And I can't afford to be scared, so it was easier to try to go back to the way I was before you, but it bothered me more than I expected. It hurt. I'm sorry.”

  “It's alright. I get it.” He brought her hand to his mouth, pressed a kiss to the back of it. “And I'm glad that you're telling me this.”

  “I am too,” Susan had to admit that it felt good to have said everything she did out loud. “I should have done it sooner. You shared so much with me and I'm just now starting to open up and tell you things. It's not about you. It's about me and I....”

  “You're freaking yourself out, Susan. It's good you told me. We're good. No, we're better than good. And it's not a contest with who shares more. You'll tell me, in your own time, and I'm fine with that.”

  “Thank you.” Susan shifted so that she was on her side and facing him.

  “Enough talking,” his voice was gruff and his mouth rough as he made any more talking impossible as he reached out for her. Susan arched her body against his, desperate for as much contact as possible. They were wearing nothing, her in the silky robe and nightgown and him in a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top. She tugged at the material and when he shifted so that he could pull it off, she sat up to slip her arms out of the robe.

  Houdini made a pleased sound as he pushed her back down on the bed. “This is nice, really nice.”

  Susan arched her back when his hands covered her breasts. He squeezed and then centered his attention on her nipples, rolling them gently between his fingers until they stood at attention. He pinched down and her whole entire body jolted as heat spread to every part of her. The warmth between her legs was now a throb. He did it again and she nearly came undone. Desperate whimpers escaped her throat as he kept the pressure steady.

  “Houdini!”

  “Too much?” He lightened his touch, brought his head down to press his mouth to the curve of her breast.

  “More,” Susan brought her hands to his head, buried her fingers in his hair and guided him over to her nipple. She arched up, felt the sensitive tip of her nipple brush against his mouth. “Please. Please.” He latched on to her breast, sucking hard. She pushed him even closer, rolled her hips as she felt the scrape of his teeth. “Oh!”

  Houdini chuckled against her skin, moved his attention to her other breast and slid his hand down her body. Susan trembled at his touch, spread her legs wider in clear invita
tion. She'd deliberately left off the lace panties that came with the nightgown and was glad for the decision.

  Susan felt her entire body tighten as his calloused fingers slid over her core until she began to shake. The sudden clenching of her body didn't stop him from pushing two fingers into her. His fingers curled and she was flying over the edge.

  He swallowed her cries with his mouth. Susan whimpered when he pulled away but realized he was only doing so to get rid of his pants. He was back on her mere seconds later, his hands pushing her legs far apart. She felt the stretch and knew that soon the sting of pain would accompany waves of pleasure. He was big, bigger than she'd had before but perfect, simply perfect in the way that he filled her so completely.

  “Houdini.” She threw her head back and let herself go. Their bodies moved together, hard and fast, both desperate for the contact, for the rush of the ascent. Words that made no sense fell from her lips, and he answered with gruff cries of his own.

  The intensity of the orgasm that followed sapped every ounce of strength from Susan's body. She fell back, Houdini crushing down on top of her. It was hard to breathe and not just because of his weight. She struggled to get a breath, to calm her racing heart.

  “I feel like I just gave blood,” Houdini shifted off of her, pulled her close to his side.

  “That's one hell of a compliment.” Susan pressed her lips to his chest, tasted the saltiness of his sweat. She looked up at him, saw that he was smiling. His eyes were half closed and she knew that soon they'd both be asleep. “Houdini?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I love you.” Susan felt her heart speed up even more, feared that she'd faint, but the words had to be said. If she was honest, she'd known it for a while but had never been brave enough to say it. The words had a power for her, they meant more than met the eye. The last time she'd given herself this way it had gone so horribly wrong. She could only hope that it would be different.

  He held her tighter, rested his head against hers. “I love you too.”