by Faye, Carmen
After the man had left, Larsen picked up the phone.
“We need to talk. I’m coming over.” He spoke quickly as he picked up his jacket and headed out towards the cabin he’d never told another soul about.
CHAPTER 35
She seemed edge, like she wasn’t thrilled with anything that was going on. He could have told her that’s how it’d be. She’d been so big on not trusting Hudson that she’d forgotten one small detail. She was a good guy.
He was not. He tried to be, but he’d taken a dark and dirty road to get there. Taking down Logan didn’t make him a hero if people died to make it happen. And Hudson was a criminal. He had to do whatever it took. This wasn’t a late night show. It was reality. And in reality suspicion leads to death.
Larsen had never been a man that liked to put other people’s lives on the line. He didn’t send them in to become what they were after. But that was the nature of life. Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted. In this case, he was certain that Hudson would always be who he was.
Lately she’d seemed to have that feeling. She’d also seemed to have a big issue with pretending it wasn’t happening. Larsen knew that he was going to have to get her out of here soon. She was used to working, not being stuck and helpless.
“I really don’t know,” she answered yet again. He’d asked her four times and her answer hadn’t changed. “I’ve only met him a few times. A month ago I’d have said yes, he’s trustworthy. Today, I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
The look on her face told Larsen not to explore that topic. While a part of him wanted to know, the smart side told him to let it go for the minute because he wasn’t entirely sure that she was ready to discuss it.
“But I’ll meet with him if that’s what you think is best,” she offered. “How is everything else going?”
Larsen hated to tell her how slow it really was. He could see the hope on her face. The desire for it to be moving along so she could get out of this small place. She felt confined. She felt lost. Most of all, she felt out of control and a woman like Melissa Fuller couldn’t handle that.
He was about to open his mouth and answer her, taking the heat she would dish out, when he got a call.
“Larsen,” he answered with his standard greeting. “What? When? How? Where at?” His eyes dropped and his head shook. “I’ll be there in ten.” Hanging up the phone he looked at Fuller. Her eyes were full and wide, questioning.
“Is it…”
Larsen shook his head. “Not him,” he answered the unspoken question. “Another agent.”
“Logan?”
“Wouldn’t that make it easier?” he chuckled. “Amanda something,” he heard her gasp. “Gang shooting. I have to go check it out.”
Fuller nodded and watched the detective walk out. She was beginning to get worried. Amanda had been Logan’s little whore. If people close to him were being taken out, then someone else was pulling the strings. And that meant that something needed to happen before they were all dead.
***
“What the fuck did you do?” He was in a rage. “She just went out with friends!”
Logan wasn’t able to contain his anger this time. He had just been informed of Amanda’s death. The death of an unborn child. His unborn child. Most importantly, it appeared to be something he’d orchestrated. Given that the police were already watching him, the man had set him up for disaster.
“Logan,” he shook his head in disbelief. “Are you back to drinking too much and killing innocent children?”
The words made him freeze. Why would that be brought up all these years later? He had done what was asked of him. He had fulfilled his end. Why would his mistakes of his youth be thrown in his face.
“You really can’t confide things like that, Agent Logan,” the man smirked. “It puts all of us in danger. You’re not the only one with something to lose.”
“She was pregnant!”
“So it seems,” he frowned, but Logan knew it was fake. “I’d hate for anymore innocent children to die in this.” He picked up a picture of Logan’s family. “It’d be such a tragedy.”
Logan didn’t argue any further. He got the point. He couldn’t save Amanda at this point, but he could save his wife and kids. Another twinge of guilt flashed through him as he nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“Now, Agent Logan.” The man smiled. “That’s what I like to hear. It’s good to have you back and focused on the direction that you need to be focused on. Have a seat. Let’s discuss how we are going to handle this from now on.”
Logan took the chair and everything from his life flashed before his eyes. If only it were as simple as letting the man kill him. But he knew better. That’s not how this worked. Instead, they would torture and kill his family while he was forced to watch, and then only do away with him when he’s begging them to.
No one had planned for Agent Fuller to become involved in this. And that was where the problem had started. The man he’d feared for the majority of his adult life agreed.
“She needs to be found, now, and removed. That is your first goal.”
“But Hudson is…”
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Logan,” the man spoke calmly. “I don’t give a damn what Hudson is planning. You’re going to do it. And you are going to set him up for it. Are we clear?”
Logan didn’t respond. Why not let the trash take out the trash? That was his theory. Keep his hands clean for real?
“I hear there’s a nice little apartment complex not far from here,” the man spoke. “Family place. Kids are safe to ride their bikes, swim and all sorts of things. Dangerous place for the wrong person to get into.”
He placed the picture back down. Logan got the message.
“I’ll take care of it.”
***
“God, I’ve missed this,” Asher commented when Melissa pulled away. “It’s been hell not being able to kiss you when I wanted to.”
She smiled, but didn’t comment. She saw the anxiety cross his face and wanted to be able to console him. But she just didn’t have it in her at that moment. She was there for a reason. Things were progressing, problems were getting worse and the danger was increasing. They didn’t have time for romance, or whatever you called what they had. She couldn’t ease his mind because her own was a jumbled mess.
“Asher,” she spoke firmly as if she were dealing business. Melissa had to let him know that was the point of their interaction. She wasn’t there for personal reasons. She was there to work. “Another agent is dead.”
Fuller watched as his face dropped. He knew the implication of that and was almost afraid to ask. “Who?”
“Her name was Amanda,” Fuller began and walked towards the chair that sat across from the sofa. “She isn’t an agent anymore…well wasn’t. She had quit, or got fired, depends on who you ask.”
“Are you sure it’s related?” Hudson was hopeful that maybe this wasn’t an addition to the problems that they were already having.
“She quit because she took a job as Logan’s nanny,” Fuller sighed. “She was helping tend to him at home,” her eyebrows arched to signify the importance of that statement.
Hudson sat on the edge of the sofa. “Do you think Logan…”
“No,” Fuller offered. “He’s up to his eyeballs in shit,” she continued. “He’s not going to flash a neon sign in his direction. Besides, “she kept talking, “Larsen said his wife took the kids and left. It would be glaringly obvious he did it,” she looked away. “This means that…”
“Someone else is trying to scare Logan,” Hudson finished.
“Yes,” she looked down. “We have to come up with the next step, before the body counts get any bigger.”
“Well, I will find out tomorrow who the rat is,” Hudson offered. “So here’s what I am thinking....”
Hudson began to lay out the details of his plan. He had worked for hours the previous night to come up with the idea. He wanted to ensure that the plan
was successful, but more than anything he wanted to keep Melissa safe. Enough people had been hurt.
“I’m meeting with the Director of the ATF tomorrow,” she threw out once they’d drifted out of their conversation. “That should be interesting.”
“What?” Hudson was shocked. “Why would you do that?”
Melissa stopped and looked at Hudson. How could he be questioning her decisions at a time like this?
“I’m sorry,” she snapped. “Did I forget to clarify that it was okay to meet with my fucking boss with you?”
Hudson’s face flashed red. Obviously his only concern was her safety. Both now and later. But at the same time, they weren’t sure how far this went up the chain of command.
“I thought we were working together. Apparently I was wrong.”
“We are,” she replied. “But this is my job! Or maybe you are so interested in me quitting that some things just don’t matter.”
“Melissa,” his voice softened. “No way will your boss be okay with you working with me. So on a best case scenario that he’s honest, you could lose your job. On a worst case scenario, he is one of them and you don’t survive.”
“It’s my job,” she answered. “Risking myself is what I do. And I have no intention of telling him that I am working with you.”
“But that means that…”
“He can’t find out about any crimes,” she answered. “Or I will have to follow protocol.”
Asher sat quiet for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to say. Would she really risk him to save her own ass? After he’d spent all that time risking his own life to save hers?
His hurt turned to anger and he lashed out. In those moments he shared with her how he felt about everything. He discussed his hurt over her failure to trust him. He talked about how she’d run away without talking to him. And then he shared how he felt about her shame at working with him.
Melissa took it all in. Some of it she had really kind of known. Other things she was surprised by. She’d never taken Asher Hudson as being a person of many feelings and she certainly didn’t think he’d view her secrecy as shame. It actually stopped to make her think. Was she ashamed of their interaction?
“Asher,” she softened up. “I am not ashamed of you. I am ashamed of me.”
“What?” he asked, “Why?”
“Because I spent my whole life working towards a goal. Take out the bad guys. Make the world safer.” She looked down at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. “But I judged people on my own criteria. And now I’m in a place where I realize that my judgments weren’t correct. And what seems wrong isn’t always wrong.”
Asher nodded as she spoke.
“But at the same time, you commit crimes. And in my world that is wrong. So I’m ashamed at my inability to stop looking at everything through black and white lenses.”
“Why won’t you tell him?” he asked.
“Because I don’t know if I can trust him,” she answered. “Too much information is dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“I see,” he felt dumb for thinking otherwise.
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Melissa sat on the sofa beside him. “Can you forgive me?”
“No,” he answered honestly.
“I just thought…”
“If I forgive you, then I can’t teach you why it was a bad decision to speak to me that way,” he looked over at her.
“Really?” she felt the familiar tightening of her insides. “How will you do that?”
“Baring that sexy ass and watching you try not to squirm as I spank it,” he answered and Melissa knew that maybe she did have time.
CHAPTER 36
Melissa forgot how long it’d been since she’d actually been with him. Until the moment when his bare hand slapped her buttocks. As the sensations rippled through her body, she was quickly reminded of just how much power this man had over her.
“Mm,” she moaned as he gave the final smack.
One of the things that aroused her the most was the routine that came with the act. Asher would take her onto his lap. He would always look her eye to eye and tell her that she’d misbehaved and it was time for her punishment. He would wait until she acknowledged him.
There was a slight variation each time from that point. This particular evening he’d turned her and laid her across his lap with her ass up. Her breasts rested along the erection underneath his pants and he slowly began to slip her pants down in the back as he talked to her.
“There are things you can and cannot do,” he spoke firmly, but softly. “Do you know what you did today?”
She had nodded and mumbled an agreement.
“What was that?” he asked.
While she informed him that she’d spoken to him in a bad tone, he took his hand and stroked along her spine, applying gentle pressure. As his hand made its way lower in the makeshift massage, her arousal heightened.
“You have to respect me,” he spoke and pressed into her lower spine, causing her ass to tighten in anticipation and her hips to arch towards him. “Today I will give you five swats.” His hands began to rub circles against the skin of her backside in preparation. “This is what happens when you misbehave.” The first smack took her breath and she yelped.
A second smack followed quickly and she felt a familiar throb. Then a third and she whimpered in longing.
Suddenly he stopped and she felt her breath catch in her throat. “Is everything okay?” She asked.
“I was just thinking,” he spoke. “Punishment has to be carried out,” he kept talking. “But it seems that you have earned a reward as well.”
Her body began to tingle. She loved when he promised her rewards. That always meant that she would leave satisfied. And one thing she’d learned was that punishment was not often acted out at the same time as rewards. Asher felt that it would cause a conflict in her mind. She wouldn’t learn the proper right from wrong that she needed.
She squirmed slightly in his lap.
“Keep doing that and I’ll have to take back the reward.”
She froze. No way did she want to be this aroused and nothing happened. She felt him throb beneath her tits and it caused the tips to peak. Both of the stiff buds rubbed against his pant leg, creating a friction that enticed her further.
Asher began to rub against her ass once more, preparing the skin. But this time, his hand slipped. She felt fingers rub firmly against her aching clit. Her legs instinctively parted.
“Oops,” he teased as he flicked a finger across her clit and then slid his hand back to its original place. “Seems I forgot something,” and within moments the fourth smack landed against her tender skin.
She felt a stab of pain that was extremely erotic travel through her body and land in the area he had just teased. Her body twitched and Asher repeated the same actions he had just performed. When that fifth smack hit her body was trembling.
“Please,” she begged.
“Please what?” He pushed her to keep talking. “What do you want me to do to you?”
Fuller thought for a moment. She still wasn’t comfortable with him expecting her to ask for what she wanted. It wasn’t something that she’d ever done in her life and she struggled with it.
“Melissa…” he spoke once more. “You have to answer me.”
She struggled slightly with what words to say and Asher decided in that moment to show her why answering was mandatory. It only took a few moments to have her clothes off and her lying spread eagle on the bed. Each of her wrists was bound to the bed and her ankles were bound to opposing sides.
Asher blindfolded her and stuffed a gag between the lips he had just kissed.
“If you choose not to speak, I will remove the ability.” With that, she felt his lips wrap around one of her nipples.
Crying out, Melissa twisted and wriggled beneath him at the mere idea of his touch. He teased the bud until it was rock hard and she felt the pressure of steel clamps contain it.
“Mm.” she mo
aned in her usual muffled way.
Asher repeated the same with the other nipple and clamp.
“Well.” He grinned. She could tell by the way his voice changed. “I do love the sight of a sexy woman bound and gagged in a bed.” She knew he was being honest. He’d always said the same thing. “But apparently, this sexy woman couldn’t tell me what she wanted.”
