Claire handed him her heart.
As he yanked down her pants with his free hand, he then tore through the panties like a wild man. He needed to get to her, and fast.
Claire was lost in the heat. She wanted the man above her to keep making her feel. With Beckett, there would always be this need.
The tear in the fabric as it was ripped from her body, pulled a gasp from her lips.
“Beckett!” she called, just as his fingers found and pillaged her. They pumped wantonly in and out of her body, making her gasp with each rough invasion.
He didn't let up.
Not once.
With his mouth, fingers, and body, he controlled the woman beneath him. Even as the voice in his head urged him on, Beckett fought to stop.
He just couldn’t.
It was like he was watching it from outside his body. Horror filled him as he violated and stole what he needed to treat with love and gentleness.
Claire’s body bowed as he pulled the first orgasm from her. She shouted his name as she fell into such amazing bliss. It had been hard, wild, and perfect. Now, she wanted more.
Her calls of his name didn't stop him, nor did it help pull him from beneath the darkness.
Instead, he pushed on harder and harder, starving for something that he didn't understand. The lust was controlling him, forcing Beckett to be the kind of man he abhorred.
His precious Claire was paying the price for his horrible curse. He was lost. Surely, when he regained the ability to stop, it would be the end.
“Beck!” she whispered, as he continued. His hands continued to take and pillage even as she struggled to float back up from the amazing release.
Again, he watched her with vacant eyes. Beckett dug deep to find himself.
He wanted her.
Beckett needed her.
It called to him.
Lust screamed from deep within him. It urged him on. Beckett still couldn’t free his voice to beg Claire for help. Whatever held him, kept it locked away, making Beckett a prisoner until this was over.
“I love you,” she whispered, staring into his eyes.
The blackness hated that. It dug its claws into him even deeper, refusing to let go. With Beckett’s free hand, he tore open the front of his jeans to free himself.
Claire moaned at the idea that she was about to be taken so wildly by the man she loved. It heated her blood on so many levels.
Freeing her wrists, he grabbed her roughly by the hips. For what he wanted, he’d need to have his hands all over her. Pulling Claire toward him, without warning, he rammed his erection deep into her body.
She came again, only this time harder. Like the last time, there was no reprieve from the glorious assault. Beckett began slamming himself into her, trying to find relief.
Claire had no choice but to hold on for the ride.
Her hands found his shirt covered shoulders, and bunched in the fabric, holding on for dear life. It was one hell of a ride. As he leaned over her, his mouth stole so much from her, and she couldn’t wait to give more.
This side of him was intoxicating.
Her body begged for it to never end.
Beckett couldn’t get enough. With each slide into the woman beneath him, the screaming inside him wouldn’t abate. It told him to take, steal, and own the woman beneath him. Unfortunately, he was helpless to say no.
Instead, he mounted her, slamming repeatedly into her to find the release that the darkness wanted.
Claire moaned, pulling his mouth down to hers in a kiss. Tongues tangled as Beckett prayed she’d forgive him when this was over.
He was assaulting her.
God!
He was taking her like some demented monster.
Just when he thought he might get free of the oppression, it tightened the hold on him, squeezing until he complied. The voice inside demanded more, and he couldn’t stop.
As he teetered close to the edge, the need to explode overcame him. Like the rest of this encounter, he didn't have any control.
Take her.
Take her.
Its vicious chants filled his brain, timed to the slide in and out of her body. It ordered him to pump his hips harder and faster, desperately trying to find some sort of relief. Finally, there was the tightening in his lower body. Before he could stop himself, the explosion erupted through him. There was that scream of release, and whatever had him by the throat, and balls, was suddenly gone.
Before Beckett knew it, he was pouring hotly into the woman beneath him. Claire lay trapped and breathing heavily as his essence mingled with hers.
For a few seconds, he couldn’t move, but when he could, he was scrambling to get away from her. He didn't want to do more damage.
It was already beyond repair.
Claire opened her eyes. “Beckett.”
“Oh, Jesus, Claire! I’m so sorry!”
He stared down at her tattered array of clothing, his body still dressed minus his erection haphazardly hanging out. It was like he’d lost control of his brain and actions.
“Beckett,” she offered again, trying to go to him.
He was sick.
Everything in him was churning into some disgusting brew. He’d just sexually assaulted the woman he loved, giving her no choice. For now, he needed to escape. Beckett needed to get as far from her as possible.
It was all too much.
The body.
The death.
And hurting his precious Claire.
Immediately, all the red marks crisscrossing her body from his fingers, mouth, and scruffy chin drew his attention.
She stood from the bed as he tucked himself in to his jeans. “I have to go.”
“Beckett!”
It was time to escape. Nothing she could say would justify what had just happened. This possession, of sorts, had just destroyed his life.
With that, he was out the door, putting space between them. This had been the biggest mistake in his life. This surpassed his brother’s death. Nothing in his life would top the horrors of what he’d just done to the woman he loved.
The evidence was there. Something was broken in him.
He wasn’t safe.
He couldn’t be trusted.
Claire deserved better.
So, he had to let her go.
* * *
Littlemoon Investigations
When he arrived there, he was sick to his stomach. Outside, he began pacing before he could even enter the building. Once he went in, telling them what had happened, his life was going to change like never before.
Was this the right thing to do?
Here was Beau Christensen, trapped between the woman who saved him, giving him life, and the woman he just professed loving. His sister needed his protection, but his mother earned it.
This was a shitty situation.
When the front door opened, and he saw Justin Littlemoon standing there, he wanted to throw up. The man looked confused, and soon, that was going to be unadulterated anger.
How could it not be?
Tori had given him a gift, and now Beau was going to hand her more pain. Once he told them the truth, it would all be over. Beau could kiss the idea of family goodbye. He didn't deserve it.
In fact, Tori didn't deserve what was coming, but he didn't know what to do. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes, he lit one with a shaking hand. He needed the jolt of nicotine to calm his nerves. From the way he felt inside, there wouldn’t be enough smokes on this planet to calm him at that point.
Justin approached, watching the man fidget.
“What happened?” he asked. Apparently, from the way the man was shaking, it had to have been bad.
Real bad.
Beau intended to remain calm, but he was anything but that.
It all came out.
A torrent of pain flooded from him, sharing everything that the man had just learned. Beau didn't know what to say or do to make this mess better.
He was lost.
Beau was screwed and needed them to believe that he wouldn’t do this to her. Once this came out, he’d look like he’d betrayed his sister.
Justin listened without interrupting. The man was scared, and he should be. What the woman had done was nothing less than full blown betrayal. The Littlemoons didn't allow that to happen in their family. Beau was getting more and more agitated, and it meant that the anger had to have been very clearly displayed on his face.
“Please don’t hate me,” Beau stated. “I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. I don’t know what’s gotten into my mother. Maybe it’s the mortality thing,” he admitted, trying to find anything to justify what was going down. “She never told me that she was going to pull something like this. I wouldn’t have been part of it had I known.”
Before Justin had decided to take the man out to see Tori, Julian and he had discussed this exact scenario. They were worried that the Littlemoon name was the reason the woman had resurfaced after years of not giving a damn.
Then there was Beau, and they decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s okay,” Justin stated. He couldn’t be mad at him. After all, he’d come to them to fix it.
That had to mean something, right? The man was standing up for his sister.
For them.
“I wouldn’t hurt her. I just found her. Please help me fix this,” he begged, willing to do anything at that point to prove that he didn't just plot Tori’s next dose of pain.
“We’ll need to go in and talk, and then decide what to do. Does your mother know where Tori is?” he asked.
The man shook his head. “No. I didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport. I didn't text her. When I got back to the hotel, that’s when I was going to tell her.”
Well, at least they had that. For now, Tori and Julian were safe. They wouldn’t be buried in the media mess until they got back.
Well, until she picked up some tabloid rag.
“I’m sorry,” he stated once more. “I really didn't know.”
Justin believed the man. “We’ll fix this,” he offered. “Just come inside, and help me.”
“I have nowhere to go. I can’t head back to that hotel. If they get a picture of me with my mother, and publish that, Tori won’t ever trust me again. She’ll think I condone this, and I don’t! I only had one shot at getting my sister back, and my mother is undoing it at this very moment.”
Justin dropped his arm around the man’s shoulders. “Let me worry about that. You just come in, have a coffee, and let me work out the details. I have to call my brother when we’re done. This is a family emergency.”
Again, Beau apologized. “Maybe it would have been better if I wasn’t born. I just seem to keep hurting the people I love.”
Justin knew how he felt.
Once, he’d thought the same thing.
They’d all been there once or twice before.
“Have some faith, Beau. It’ll work out.”
The man didn't look persuaded. “In who?”
“The Littlemoons of course.”
* * *
Tori opted to make the call this time. While Julian wanted to keep it business, Tori knew that their friend, Elizabeth Blackhawk, would have her back.
They certainly needed it right about now.
On the third ring, it was answered.
“Tori, darlin’, how are you?” Elizabeth asked.
“Hi, Lyzee. I’m good. How are you?” she asked, referring to the woman’s pregnancy.
“Getting fatter by the day. You?” she inquired, snickering.
Tori missed her friend. Her gentle laughter relaxed her. Before Elizabeth, she’d never bothered with getting attached to people. They always seemed to let you down.
“Still the same.”
Then the tone changed.
“I know you’re not calling to exchange pregnancy notes,” she offered. “Is Julian okay?”
Tori put the phone on speaker. “We have a problem.”
“Like a friendship problem or an FBI problem?”
Julian cleared his throat. He really hated taking advantage of their friendship, but his back was to the wall. “Elizabeth, we have a shitfest.”
The noise in the background stopped, signaling that Elizabeth was somewhere private. “Tell me.”
Julian went into great detail about the three bodies and what they’d found. He broke down the entire situation, leaving nothing out. He couldn’t. If he was going to drag his friends into this, he needed them to know everything, and that meant he had to include Beckett and Tori’s gifts.
Elizabeth listened, not judging. She’d seen lots of things in her life, especially since she had been busy babysitting Oracle. She had been enough to scare anyone out of their minds.
When Julian was done, Elizabeth contemplated her options. “What do you want us to do, exactly? Do you want us to step in? I mean, you have multiple bodies, so the FBI can cover this.”
“Is there any way you can just hold them until we’re done? Then the FBI can have this. They can have the glory and the media attention too,” stated Julian. “We just want to find the man we were hired to locate, solve this, and get the hell out alive.”
Elizabeth understood.
“I can contact one of our offices down there for a lab pick up. They can hold the remains, pull the evidence, and save it for a while.”
“You won’t handle it personally?” Julian asked.
Elizabeth lowered her voice. “I can’t, Jules. Ethan, Callen, and I have a mess here. I’m trying to find two killers who like knocking women up, and then killing them.”
Well, Julian would have to trust that the people she sent would keep it very quiet.
“How long have those bodies been in the wall and floor?” Elizabeth asked.
Tori took over, “Decades. We haven’t found the man we were sent in to locate yet.”
Elizabeth pondered her options. “I’ll pull a few strings and send in a transport.”
He hated to do this, but he had no choice. “We need it to be very low key. The town hasn’t figured this out yet, and the sheriff’s ME has the first body. You may need to hold off on that one.”
She understood. “So, you have two bodies to transport, during the cover of night, and in unmarked vehicles. I think we can cover that,” Elizabeth offered. If she couldn’t, what kind of Fed would she be?
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this,” Julian stated. “I hate having to use you all the time.”
She laughed. “Julian, we’re friends, and family. Sometimes, you just need that little extra boost. Don’t worry about it. You’ll know when my team gets there. Hang tight.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” Tori stated. “When I get to town, want to do a girls’ night?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Like Christina’s bachelorette party? Hell yeah, I do!”
Julian nearly lost it. After that debacle, he was never letting that happen again, especially since Tori was pregnant. “Uh, hell no! Why do you have to be so vicious, Elizabeth,” he teased.
She laughed. “Darlin, I said we’d help. I didn't say you weren’t going to have to pay the piper.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
“Be safe,” she stated, disconnecting the call.
Julian was glad that was over. At least that was one load off his shoulders. Julian was about to suggest some dinner and naked bed rolling when his phone rang.
When he saw his brother’s name pop up, he immediately answered it. “Yo.”
“We have a problem.”
Justin broke it all down.
The entire time, Julian simply stared at his wife. “Uh huh,” he said, keeping it neutral. “Sure.”
“What should I do?”
“Well, Justin, you’re going to have to handle it. Fo
r now, we’re buried out here. We have everything going to hell in a hand basket.”
Tori looked concerned.
Julian knew keeping this from her was a bad idea, but they didn't really have a choice. This was the last thing that they needed. He’d break it to his wife later, when he could think of a softer way than just bombarding her with it. They’d done that once, and she wouldn’t be able to handle another hit.
Not this soon after the last vicious one.
Julian had to worry about her and the baby. They’d deal with Shelby Christensen later.
“Where should I put Beau? He can’t go back to the hotel. If he does, he’s going to be sucked into this. I want to help him keep his family. I feel bad.”
Julian did too. “Upstairs,” he stated, keeping it as simple as possible, so his wife wouldn’t get the gist of the conversation.
“At your place?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, Jules. I’ll handle this. Try and not focus on it too much. I don’t want you distracted.”
Yeah, neither did he.
“Are you sure you have all this, Justin?” he asked, hating that he was dumping everything on his brother.
“I have it. I’ll keep you updated,” he stated, disconnecting the call.
Tori was watching him.
“Well, that’s handled.”
“Work issues?” Tori asked, digging through her bag for some clean clothes. She wanted to get out of the cobweb and dust laden ones before the FBI team arrived.
“Yeah, you know. Running a business has the same old issues day after day.”
He hated lying. Julian felt horrible.
“Are you going to shower?” he asked, moving closer to her. “I happen to need one,” he offered.
“Yeah, I was planning on it.”
Julian grinned.
“Get your things, and you can wash my back.”
Now he was really happy.
“And if you’re a good husband, maybe my front too.”
She’d never been so frightened in all her life. Beckett had left, she’d cleaned up the mess, and now she needed help. There was no one left to turn to, so she went to the only man she knew would help her through this.
Unthinkable Games (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 3) Page 30
