Curses, Fates & Soul Mates

by et al Kristie Cook

  “What’s up?” he asked, crossing his arms and remaining against the wall.

  “Just wanted to find you. Are we okay?”

  “Yeah. Fine.” His expression was indifferent. Cold. I didn’t like this Jet.

  “Jet, we’re not fine. I can see that you’re mad at me. Look, what I said earlier, I was just trying to—”

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Skylla. You were right. I was on your case. It’s not my fucking job to look out for you. I never asked for that.”

  An icy blanket settled over me and my jaw went slack at his words. “Okay … I never asked for it, either.” My tone was snippy now, but I didn’t care. He couldn’t say something like that and expect me to just take it lying down. “I didn’t ask to be taken prisoner, didn’t ask to be assaulted, didn’t ask for you to shoot those bastards and take me from that jail. And I certainly didn’t ask you to run with me. If I recall, you were the one who wanted to stick together. Sorry if saving me—or babysitting me as you called it—has been such an inconvenience for you. Maybe we should go our separate ways….” I huffed in frustration and turned to walk away, but he caught my hand.

  Something about the way he grasped it made my stomach flip. It wasn’t hard or insistent, wasn’t aggressive. It was a soft grip, a pleading one.

  “Don’t,” he said quietly.

  “Why are you upset? You’ve been acting weird since we ran into Kale. I can tell you guys get on each other’s nerves, but can’t you just get along for a little while? So we can all help each other?”

  “That guy doesn’t know any more about the enemy than I do. He just thinks he does.”

  “You don’t know that. If you really believed that, you wouldn’t have come here.”

  “Yes, I would have. Because you asked me to.”

  The twinge in my stomach clenched harder, and I raised my eyes to his, our gazes locking.

  “I don’t regret watching out for you, Skylla,” he said. “But here you are, skinny dipping with that asshole, having a grand old time, while I’m up here trying to get information, trying to get shit done. And instead of worrying about taking care of business, I’m worrying about you drowning or … I don’t know, something. I don’t trust him, all right? I don’t care what kind of fucking puppy-dog eyes he gives you, I don’t trust him yet.”

  “Taking care of business. Right.” I gestured in the direction of the blonde, who was now watching curiously from the bar, winking at Jet.

  Jet stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed, tilting his head back against the wall. “That’s not … that’s not what I meant.”

  “Well what do you want from me, Jet? You don’t want me to talk to him? It’s a little late for that.”

  “I just want you to be cautious around him. Don’t get too close to him, that’s all. I don’t like the way he looks at you. It fucks with my head.”

  “What?” I moved to step in front of him, raising a hand to cup his cheek and pull his eyes down to mine. “What are you talking about?”

  “Everything about you fucks with my head, Skylla. From the moment I laid eyes on you. I’m distracted and I don’t like it. For a minute, just for a minute, I thought it was better if I was as far away from you as possible. I tried … I tried leaving you, just walking away. Back at the restaurant.”

  It dawned on me, recalling my run-in with Kale and how Jet was nowhere to be found. “You tried sneaking away—?”

  “I couldn’t, because my need to be near you, to protect you, is so fucking strong, it knocks the wind out of me. It’s physically impossible for me to walk away from wherever you are. No woman has ever done that to me. It makes me crazy mad, okay?”

  I released his cheek and swallowed, trying to process what was happening here. “So … that’s why you’re annoyed with Kale? Because you think—”

  “I don’t think, I know. He wants you.”

  “He just met me.”

  “So?”

  “So, aren’t you jumping to conclusions a bit?”

  “All it takes is one look at you to know you’re worth having—in every sense. Guys can see that shit from a mile away. He wants you. Count on it.”

  “And what do you want?”

  Jet’s jaw worked, his eyes smoldering as the cogs of his mind worked overtime. He paused for a beat then reached out and gripped my waist, turning me and thrusting me against the wall, reversing our positions. His hands flew up to rest at the sides of my head, his breathing heavy and uneven. His body pressed into mine, and with a subtle roll of his hips, he dipped and drove his groin into me, eliciting a sharp gasp from my lips. One hand lowered and slid smoothly over my thigh. It stopped at the crease behind my knee and tugged, pulling my leg up to rest at his waist. He bent his head to speak in my ear. “Clear enough for you?”

  My hands flew up to fist his shirt, my gasps stirring the wet hair falling from my ponytail. The low thrum of the music vibrated through the cave wall, thumping warmly against my chilled, over-sensitized skin. I’d already been damp, my semidry clothes hugging my cold body, but the moment Jet’s body brushed against mine, I was suddenly soaking wet in all the right places.

  I cleared my throat and forced a small nod. “Uh huh. Clear. Crystal.”

  His hot breath fanned my ear. “Forget him. Come dance with me.”

  “What?” I squeaked, squirming against him. I couldn’t picture Jet dancing. Hell, I couldn’t picture him doing anything else but gunslinging and throwing fists.

  “Come on, humor me.” He slowly backed away, eliminating the cage he’d formed over me, and my body protested at the absence of his warmth. Towing me into the crowd of swaying, sweaty bodies, he slipped his arms around me, eyes flicking downward to encourage me to move with the music’s rhythm. I began to move and his body responded, matching me beat for beat, leaving me stunned.

  He was just as smooth on the dance floor as he was in combat.

  We both got lost in the music’s trance, each throbbing beat sending us farther and farther into a heavenly oblivion. Our arms entwined and our breaths mixed, fingers slowly lacing together as we moved. Raising our hands, we jumped along with the spellbinding vibrations, sharing loud, contagious laughter. I let my head fall back in abandon, and soft, moist lips fell to the hollow of my throat, coaxing waves of goose bumps to spread across my arms. I slowly lifted my head and watched Jet’s gaze crawl up to meet mine. He held our connection as he ran his hot lips in a northbound trail up my throat, stopping at the corner of my mouth. Until now, Jet’s smiles were few, only visible with his occasional wisecracks. The kind that spread from ear to ear was one I’d never seen him wear. Until now. It was completely radiant, free of inhibition—one-hundred-percent infectious.

  And it made my body ache for him in the most painful ways.

  I tilted my head to catch his lips and press them to mine, but he teasingly backed away and spun me around, tucking my back to his front. He resumed our pace, jumping back into groove with the music, falling effortlessly into its flow. I wasn’t sure how long we moved together like that. One song after another threw us into cycle after cycle of blissful hypnosis. But eventually, I was dragging his hand over to the bar counter, asking what I’d have to trade for private sleeping quarters—well, as private as one can get in a Black Hole.

  Jet was waiting behind me as I leaned over the bar to speak to one of the bartenders, his hand on the small of my back. “What are you doing?” he yelled over the noise.

  I shushed him and continued to try to strike a deal. After a few minutes, it seemed I’d found something worth offering, and the bartender handed me a sign and gave me directions.

  “Thanks, Jimmy,” I yelled, turning back to Jet with a smirk.

  “One hour,” Jimmy warned, pointing at me to emphasize his point.

  I waved him off over my shoulder and launched back into the crowd, pulling Jet along, leading him up a stairway and down a cavernous hallway. The hallway’s dim light flickered with the pounding of the music fro
m below.

  Jet raced to keep up with my feverish pace. “Slow down, Sky, what are you up to?”

  We reached an entryway that read “Sector Two,” with line after line of blankets hung over a string of old-school clotheslines. We passed each section, one by one, until the cardboard sign on one read Number Three, matching the cardboard sign in my hand. I used the clothespin to hang my sign on the line, then ducked underneath the blanket.

  Once inside, Jet took a deep breath, surveying the small space and the flimsy straw mattress on the floor. “Skylla, I don’t know—” I didn’t give him a second to think. I crushed my mouth on his, opening for him, inviting his tongue to intertwine with mine. He stiffened and then melted under my touch, his whole body going lax with an animalistic groan. “Oh, fuck, you taste so good. But I don’t think … you’ve just been through hell, Sky.”

  “Don’t.”

  “You need time,” he urged, forcing himself backward, his expression pained.

  “You told me what you want,” I pulled him back and whispered against his lips, “now I get to tell you what I want.”

  And I did want him.

  I wanted all of him, and I wasn’t entirely sure where along the way my mind or body had decided that. I only knew at one point, they both merged and agreed on wanting the same thing. The minute Jet released my cuffs in that prison, he unhinged something crucial, waking up a part of me I’d known had been asleep for far too long. I wanted to know more about this man—the one who’d spoken of his little sister like the sun rose and set because of her, the man who both stole me and set me free.

  Maybe he was right, it was too soon after what I’d been through on the train. Maybe I’d lost all sense of the weight my mind was capable of holding and the pace it needed to process it all. But I felt something with Jet that was nonexistent with those men on the train: safe. And whatever the consequences of rushing my mind into new emotional territory, I’d live with them. They were my responsibility now.

  I broke our connection to suck in air. “You’re not taking advantage of me. You won’t hurt me. I’m asking for this.”

  “More like telling.” He smirked. “I think you need time to digest what happened … before you let anyone touch you again. God knows I want to, holy hell do I want to, but I can’t, Sky.”

  “Time? Time is exactly what I need. There’s not enough of it, and I won’t spend however much I have left afraid, or regretful, or wishing I could get back what was taken from me. Because this could be it. I can handle this,” I gestured between us. “I’ll handle whatever comes along with it, okay? I don’t want to remember what could have been my last time … that way. Please. Try and understand?”

  The inner workings of his mind began to churn, his bottom lip taking the brunt of his teeth as he considered my words. He studied me carefully, the inches between us excruciating. “Okay,” he said quietly, nodding. “If this is really what you want.”

  My eyes flitted shut and my lips tipped in satisfaction. I remained still, letting him make the first move this time.

  I waited.

  His thumb finally moved, sliding slowly over the fly of my jeans, creating a trail for the rest of his fingers to follow. He cupped me with a groan, bringing his head down to reclaim my mouth. This time, he didn’t just kiss me.

  He devoured me.

  Our movements were frantic and messy now. His fingers fumbled with the hem of my shirt—still his shirt, which made me smile—and in seconds I was naked in front of him, panting shamelessly for his touch. His jeans were next, and then he had my back to his front again, one arm caging me against him. I glanced down at the beautiful angel and demon dancing across his forearm. They’d become familiar friends. Undoubtedly a part of Jet, and now a part of me.

  “Listen to me,” he whispered huskily, “I’ll take control of your body because I know what’ll make you feel good. But I don’t own you, and the second you don’t like me running the show, I stop, you got it?”

  I shuddered, my body rocking back against his hardness.

  “Sky, answer me.”

  “Yeah. Got it.”

  “Do you want me inside you? I need your permission.”

  “Yes,” I said too quickly, my voice a raspy breath.

  His hand slid down between my legs, his fingers gliding through my wetness. He positioned his erection, the hot tip nudging at me softly. “Do you like this position? Do you trust me?”

  I could only moan in response, biting hard on my lip to hold myself together.

  “Good, because I fucking love it. You ready for me, baby?” His callused fingers worked over my clit, the muscles in his chest undulating against my bare back. “Oh, you’re so ready,” he whispered, biting down on my shoulder. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, Sky. You’re in charge here.”

  “Mmmhhmmm.”

  Tugging softly on my hair, he adjusted his feet and rolled his thumbs over my hipbones. I heard the tear of a wrapper, could feel him sliding on protection. With a quick shift of my waist, he lifted my hips and then tilted his groin up to sink into me in one fluid movement. I exhaled on a gasp, feeling him pulse inside of me. My head dropped and I grasped at his arm, which was steel across my chest. He worked my clit and rocked into me from behind, delivering swift, precise thrusts, matching the rhythm. I was completely and utterly lost. So lost in the heady pleasure that it wasn’t until he leaned in and began whispering endearments against my cheek that the reality was driven home.

  Jet Phoenix was inside me, clinging to me like a last breath. The same Jet who’d collected me from God knows where, who’d held me prisoner on enemy grounds, then proceeded to save me and set me free. Now he was once again holding me prisoner, only this time by admission of my own free will, and I was recklessly committed to being his captive.

  Each sleek pump of his groin catapulted me forward, his hands gripping my hips to steady me. “Beauty like fire,” he whispered, grazing my earlobe between his teeth, “and a heart like rain.” He charged me with a sharp jolt. “You’re incredible, Skylla. Fucking incredible, baby.”

  His words soaked into me, wrapping around my lungs and heart and locking them in a vise grip. I rolled my head to the side. His teeth brushed my earlobe one last time before releasing it, a toe-curling moan wafting through him when I dropped forward, bending over to bring him deeper. One warm hand continued to work me from the front, while the other slid over my back, smoothing down my spine, then back up, to weave through my hair.

  “Jet, I can’t hold on.”

  His pounding increased, his heaving breaths filling the meager blanket tent. “I’m almost there. Wait for me, baby.”

  “I can’t,” I cried out, reaching for the blanketed curtain, for something to grip. “I can’t.”

  Three more hard thrusts and Jet was sending us both home on a shout, our bodies slapping together and crashing onto the straw mattress. He rolled to his side, his tall form spooning mine, our bodies still connected.

  “Holy hell,” he breathed, wiggling behind me. He twitched inside of me, the dull throb delicious and satisfying. “You feel so good, I don’t want to leave yet.”

  “So don’t.”

  “We have a serious problem.”

  I angled my head to glance up at him. “What problem?”

  “I found something I love a whole hell of a lot more than Twinkies.”

  My lips broke apart and I beamed at him, jabbing my elbow into his ribcage.

  “Seriously, though.” He dragged his thumb over my bottom lip. “You’re gorgeous. You make me lose all sense.”

  “What were you reciting to me?” I whispered back, kissing his thumb. “What did it mean?”

  “It’s from an old folktale. A story I used to tell Hera at bedtime.” A distant cloudiness drifted over his gaze. “This warrior fell for this princess, and he described his love for her by comparing her beauty to the beauty of a dragon’s fire—violent and dangerous—and her heart to the rain—generous and kind. No matter
how small a rainstorm, it provides replenishment for all living things.”

  A grin swept over my face, and I was mesmerized by his words. “What do you know about my heart?”

  “I know it’s compassionate. And brave. It’s most definitely like the rain.”

  “You sound so certain.”

  “Because I am. I’ve seen it.”

  “That doesn’t count,” I whispered, knowing what he was referring to.

  “How can sacrificing yourself for me—subjecting yourself to the horrors you did on that train—not count?”

  “Because it’s what any sane person would do to save another’s life.”

  “Skylla, any sane person would have jumped off that fucking train and never looked back. I was no one to you.”

  “I couldn’t let you die, and I couldn’t let those assholes steal our map and throw us out like trash. And no, you were not no one. You saved my life. It was only fair.”

  “Fair?” His brows furrowed and his jaw ticked, anger flaring in his eyes. “I didn’t save you so you’d return the favor. And I sure as hell don’t call what you put yourself through fair. If I hadn’t been outnumbered at the time and didn’t need the lift out west, I would’ve taken out every son of a bitch on that train.”

  “It’s over, Jet. Done.”

  “It won’t ever be. Not for me.”

  “Well, that one isolated act does not make my heart like the rain.”

  “It’s been many acts, some small, some large. You just don’t see it. I saw it the first time I found you, with the animals.”

  I searched his expression, studying him. “What are you talking about?”

  “The day you were collected.”

  My smile fell and he watched me cautiously. A tear trickled from the corner of my eye and streamed down my cheek. “I don’t remember. Will you tell me?”

  He nodded gently, pausing as if thinking before speaking. “You were at a pet store. You were at the back entrance, holding the door open. You really don’t remember anything?”