by JA Huss
I help myself, staring at the sauce longer than I should. Red.
“Case?”
I look up and she’s holding out the spoon for the sauce. “Right,” I say, taking it from her.
We have a few awkward moments of silence as we start eating. I have no appetite, plus I know what this stuff tastes like already, so I mostly push mine around on my plate. But Lulu doesn’t seem to notice.
“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”
“Thank you, Miss Lulu,” Steve says, beaming a smile of flickering teeth at her.
“You can go now, Steve,” I say. “We’d like some privacy.” Steve nods obligingly at me and flickers out of existence.
“How do you manage that?” Lulu asks. “Privacy, I mean. When he’s everywhere, just watching and waiting for his next command.”
“The lighthouses,” I say, nodding my head towards the ceiling where all the little black boxes are mounted. “He can only appear in rooms where I have lighthouses. And microphones, of course. He doesn’t have ears, Lulu. He’s a computer.”
“So which rooms don’t have the right equipment?”
“Most of them are upstairs. He can appear in the hallways, but not the rooms up there. I have SpyGlass windows in the bedrooms, but those are just to project images of fantastic destinations. Like a tropical beach. Or the mountains. I’ll show you some time.”
“Hmm,” Lulu says, thinking about this. “Do you think of Steve as a friend? A personal assistant? What?”
I shrug. “Either, I guess.”
“You said something about Lincoln having Sheila. That she’s different. Different how?”
I shake my head. “Sorry, not my business to tell. You’ll have to ask Lincoln about her if you’d like to know more.”
“Will I get a chance to ask Lincoln?”
“Probably not.”
“Why are you so morose?”
I set down my fork and exhale a long breath of air. “This isn’t going how I’d imagined it.”
“What isn’t? Your little plan for the city?”
“No,” I snap. “Lunch with you.”
“Because we’re not having the nooner?”
When I look up at her she’s smirking at me.
“That, sure,” I say. “But mostly, Lulu… I just like you. And you’re not the person I imagined you’d be.”
“You’re not the person I imagined either,” she whispers. “I never imagined we’d be here on opposite sides.”
“We’re not on opposite sides. You’re letting your imagination run away with you. Maybe you’ve been listening to someone down at City Hall and they’ve corrupted your view of me. Or maybe you’re just cynical and want to see me in this light because it fits your worldview.”
She puts her fork down too. “OK. Maybe that’s true. I certainly don’t have much knowledge of you and the things I saw in that video—the Blue Corp stuff—it was pretty weird, Case. But you’re not doing us any favors by keeping secrets.”
“You’re only here to trap me. And if you’d at least admit that, I’d have some more faith in you. But you won’t.” I pause. “So I can’t.”
“Fine,” she says, lifting her napkin off her lap and placing it over her plate of Stevegetti. “You want the truth? Here’s the truth. Randy thinks you and your friends are the ones responsible for the robbery. He wants me to seduce you, get all your secrets, and then report back to him. That’s why I came to lunch with you today.”
“Well, that’s just perfect.” I throw my napkin on my plate as well.
“Your turn.”
“No.” I laugh. “I already had my turn. Everything I told you was true.”
“You’re leaving things out, Case.”
“All things that have nothing to do with you or this absurd theory you have.”
She shakes her head and frowns. “I want you to trust me to help you.”
“I don’t need any help. We don’t need any help. I just like you, OK? Why can’t we just be friends and not worry about fixing me?”
She considers this for a few moments. “So… the nooner?”
I crack a smile at that. “It’s a much better option than all this arguing.”
“And pretend none of this is happening?” she asks.
“I’m so into delusional denial, you have no idea. Practically turns me on.”
“I think the mood has been ruined, don’t you?”
“I can fix it, Miss Lightly. Trust me, I have moves. I can make us a nice fire, get out the wine, put on some porn…”
She presses her lips together, trying not to smile.
“Before you know it, I’ll have my hand between your legs, stroking your pussy…”
“Jesus Christ,” she laughs.
“We’ll fuck, then fuck again, then again. Then fall asleep, enjoying the snow day, or riot day, or apocalypse day—whatever you want to call it—and then wake up and fuck some more… Come on,” I say, a little plea in my offer. “Forget your job. Just have fun with me. All this bullshit will still be here when we’re done. And we’re stuck here. Like it or not. We can’t do anything today. The snow will make the rioters go home soon and then tomorrow will look totally different.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - LULU
He stands up from the table and comes around behind me. I know we’ve been fighting, and I still think I’m right and he’s got things inside that head of his that could help me and Randy figure out what’s going on. But I really did come here for the sex. Maybe that wasn’t the entire reason I came back to Cathedral City, but I’d be lying if I said Case wasn’t on my mind when I made the decision.
His hands are so warm when they press down on my shoulders. “Come on, Lulu. Let’s start over.”
When he takes my hand to pull me to my feet I don’t object. And when he leads me towards the stairs and starts climbing, I submissively follow.
I’m tired of the arguing.
At the top of the stairs we turn left, towards two large double doors standing open, and walk into his master bedroom. It’s neat and tidy. Not a lot of furniture, but what he has—a low, king-sized, platform bed, end tables on either side, a chrome lamp atop each, and metal artwork on the walls—is extremely modern.
His style is minimalistic. Sleek lines, hard edgy surfaces, and a monochromatic scale of white, gray and black.
There’s a fireplace hanging from the ceiling by a long chrome-plated pole. He leads me towards it, tells me to “Sit,” pointing to a luxurious Flokati rug. I kneel down, my hands pressing into the soft, thick fibers, and watch him carefully as he flicks a switch on the wall and the fireplace lights up with a quick whoosh of flames.
He takes off his suit coat and tosses it onto a nearby chair.
When he turns to face me, loosening his tie just enough for me to understand what will be happening next, he looks… different. Not the man I’m pursuing for Randy. Just the guy I once knew so many years ago.
“I’ve missed you,” I say. Meaning it.
He smiles as he crosses the small distance from the wall back to me, and then drops down on the rug and lies back, kicking off his shoes. “Tell me what you’ve been doing since you left. And leave all the bad parts out.”
I giggle at that, then slide my shoes off, tossing them aside, as I lie back next to him. His arm finds its way underneath me and he begins to stroke my shoulder. Even through the fabric of my blouse, I can feel his warmth.
“For now, anyway,” he adds to his request. “I want to know about them, of course. But we’ve got enough bad parts going on at the moment. No need to add to the list.”
“I went to school,” I say, skipping the stupid details like university and major. “Then law school. Then home to Wolf Valley where I worked for a while as an assistant DA. Then I came… home. That was two weeks ago.”
“You just covered seven years in four sentences. I might’ve given you the wrong impression when I asked for the short version. Please don’t tell me it was all so bad, that�
�s all there is to say?”
Welp. I’m not answering that, for sure. So I change the subject. “Give me your four sentences, Case.”
“OK,” he says, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “I finished college too. I started ToyBox back when I was in high school, but I got funding help from Thomas to build this compound. Partied a lot with Lincoln. And then Thomas moved SkyEye Corporate back to Cathedral City, and now we’re a team again.”
“Hmmm,” I say, closing my eyes so I can enjoy the newness of how we feel together. “What about your childhood? Can you sum that up in four sentences?”
“Well,” he says, hesitating a little longer this time. “I went to boarding school where I met Linc and Thomas. We left there together as teens. Thomas went one way, Linc and I went another. Then we met up again. And that’s that.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s that. Although I didn’t realize you thought of your kidnapping as school.”
“It was a school,” he says without emotion.
I don’t even know how to process this. I knew, even back in my teens when I had that huge crush on him, that he was kidnapped. But he never talked about it when we were at rehearsals. I sorta forgot. “Was it a kidnapping?”
“No.” He says it with such finality, there is no room for doubt. “My father made me go.”
“So all that hype about the kidnapping when you guys came home, that was a lie?”
“One hundred percent lies. You’d be shocked if you knew how little truth is out there, Lulu. Reality is nothing but lies.”
“Do you want to have sex with me?” I ask, searching for some truth.
“For sure.”
“Even if we can’t get along tomorrow when the problems come back? Even if we become enemies?”
“I’ll take my chances.”
I smile at his answer.
“But I don’t just want sex. So I hope your fears about tomorrow don’t happen.”
“You know, a little more truth would go a long way in that regard.”
“A little more truth would ruin everything,” he replies. “At least right now.”
We think about that longer than we should.
“Close your eyes,” he says, breaking the silence.
“They are closed.” I laugh.
“Don’t look. Don’t open them. Shut the world out and keep it far, far away.”
His hand is between my legs, pressing against me in all the right ways. And then his body shifts so he’s propping himself up. The next thing I feel is the flutter of his lips on my mouth. The sweep of his tongue makes me respond and it’s a long, slow kiss that says so much more than any words ever could.
He missed me. I missed him back.
He wants me. I want him back.
I reach for him, my hand brushing against the soft, smooth fabric of his suit trousers. But he takes it, squeezes it, and places it flat against the soft rug. “Don’t move. I just need a moment to get to know you again.”
The plea relaxes me. Pacifies me in a way that takes me by surprise. When his fingers sweep between my legs I feel my whole body relax. Like I’m ready for something.
He continues with his exploration. Hand down the top of my thigh, then back up on the inside. At one point, he lifts up the silky hem of my blouse, exposing my stomach and making my skin rise up in little prickles. His warm mouth ebbs me back down, and then he’s kissing and licking his way up to my breasts.
When he gets there he licks my nipples through my lacy bra. I open my eyes, just for a peek, and get caught.
“No cheating,” he says around a mouthful of breast, his blue eyes looking up at me.
I smile, but my lids are already heavy, and I give in.
He pulls my bra down, quick and rough, and they spill out, right into his waiting hands. He squeezes them hard, claims them in a possessive, almost painful way that makes me tip my head back and bite down.
His mouth is on mine in that same instant, his body maneuvering over me, his hard cock pressing down on my hips.
“You’re gonna change your mind about me, Lulu Lightly. I promise.”
“Stop talking,” I whisper, my breath heavy with anticipation. “But don’t stop anything else.”
He bites my lip in response, his hand pulls hard on the button of my pants, and then before I can take another breath, he’s there. His skin against mine. His fingers, wet with my desire.
He sits up, straddling my legs, and still I press my eyelids tightly closed. Unwilling to break his command to go in blind.
My panties are dragged down my legs with my pants and he leans down, pressing his mouth over my thigh, kissing and licking his way across my body. He lifts one leg, making it bend at the knee, and presses it up to my chest. The shiver that runs through my body when he strokes the sensitive skin behind my knee almost makes me convulse.
“Shhh,” he whispers as he unbuttons my blouse. And then he sits up and back, and I can’t help it. I can’t not look.
When I open my eyes, he’s smiling down at me as he unbuttons his white dress shirt, staying silent. The firelight flickers and dances across his body as shadows.
Words have no place in what’s happening in this room right now. Words are the last thing we need.
When he gets to the last button up near his collar, he spreads the shirt open, revealing the taut muscles of his chest and stomach and that cut line that rides down each hip and disappears into his trousers.
I want to go searching for what that line leads to. But I don’t. Looking at him—watching him watch me—is enough. For now.
He takes the shirt off and it joins my pants in a careless heap.
His hands are on my hips, thumbs caressing the soft dent on either side of the bone. And with each sweep he presses them closer and closer, until they reach the folds of my pussy and he pulls my lips back.
One final look up at his face before he lowers his mouth and then… I shake my head, close my eyes, and just…
“Oh…” I’m panting as he swirls his tongue around in small circles around the sweet spot that makes me buck my hips and arch my back. I reach down for his hair, unable to care about his instructions to keep them at my side. I fist handfuls of it. It’s just long enough to get a good grip and push him into me. He hikes both my legs up to my chest, pinning them down with the full length of his arms.
The feelings that rush through my body are almost indescribable. It’s so intense. I don’t recall ever having a man eat me out like this. Never with so much enthusiasm. His tongue never stops, short, quick flicks alternating with long, slow sweeps. He pushes himself inside my pussy, and it just makes me want more.
“More,” I whisper. “Take off your—”
“Shhh,” he tells me again between licking. He lets go of my legs, but I hold them up, making sure he has the access he needs as a finger presses into my asshole. His other hand is strumming my clit as he probes my pussy with his tongue and that’s it.
I’m there.
“Holy…” I don’t get past that before I start moaning.
Case laughs softly as I orgasm against his mouth, the wetness pouring out as he places his whole mouth on me, bringing my clit inside his mouth to suck gently. Until it’s so intense I’m trying to push his head off me. When he doesn’t give in, I squirm, my body desperate for relief, until I finally maneuver away, panting hard.
He falls into me, his head on my stomach, his hands seeking out my breasts to give them one last fierce squeeze as I lie there, spent.
We haven’t even fucked yet and I’m exhausted. “Jesus Christ,” I say, panting hard.
He doesn’t answer, just goes to work taking off his pants. When I look down he’s fisting his thick, hard cock. Stroking himself. When I look back up to his face, he’s watching me. “Relax,” he says. “Just enjoy it.”
He straightens me out so I’m not curled up anymore, but lying flat on my back, parts my legs, positions himself between them, and thrusts forward. My pussy is stretched so far, I
wince as he enters me. But then he’s in, his upper body pressing against mine, his hands on either side of my head, softly stroking my face.
We stare at each other as we move together. It’s a slow fuck. Like the first time we did it, all those years ago. And he never breaks our visual connection. Long pushes, until he’s so far inside me, I press on his chest to make him back off. And then the relief as he withdraws so far, I have to grip his shoulders in a desperate plea to pull him back in.
It’s a tug of war. I want more, I want less, I want more, I want less. And I realize… that’s exactly how I feel about all of him. His big personality. His secrets. His crazy friends and his stupid holographic butler.
I want more and less at the same time. And it’s not good.
“Shhhh,” Case says, reading my thoughts as he continues torturing me with his attention, and his affection, and his irresistible mystery.
He fucks me like that. Brings me to climax again and then pulls out and comes all over my stomach in long spurts of white-hot finality. He keeps me in that place between here and there. Confuses me with my own twisted thoughts about who he is, who I am. What we want and how many, many things we’re about to lose if we keep seeing each other.
And at this moment I can say with clear certainty… I don’t care.
I really don’t care.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - CASE
She molds her back into the curve of my chest and we make a new shape together. Panting at first, trying to catch the breath that wants to escape. But I hold her tight in case she gets any funny ideas about leaving.
I think her eyes are closed, but I don’t know. And I’m afraid to break the moment. She’s calm, for once. Not asking me stupid questions about what me and my friends are doing to the city. Not blaming me for things I didn’t do. So I keep quiet.
It goes on for so long I conclude she really did fall asleep. And even though all I want to do is pick her up, place her in my bed, and crawl in next to her and never leave—the heat is rising in my body.
The sex is not enough. Not at night. It will never be enough and there is no way I can ignore it. So when she finally rolls over, creating some distance between our bodies, I quietly get up, not bothering with clothes because I have to go outside naked anyway, and grab the knife I stash in the bedside table.
