His eyes opened and snapped to hers again, then without breaking eye contact, he began to move; in and out, in and out, over and over again, maddeningly slowly. Her hands slid down the tensing muscles in his back, feeling them bunch and then release with every forward thrust. Her hands settled on his ass, squeezing the firm globes as he moved over her, inside her. Jason balanced himself on one arm and began tracing sensual patterns over her skin, up and down her ribs, over her shoulder, before finding her nipple and tweaking it between his fingers. She gasped as his hips slammed forward and he increased the speed of his thrusts, pumping into her fast and hard.
Keila saw a multitude of emotions in his eyes; passion, adoration, erotic desire, then finally love. He looked at her as though she was the only woman on earth and nothing else existed except the two of them moving together. She called out his name and Jason groaned as he pushed deeper again. He reached between them and as his speed increased again, he rubbed at her clit in time to his thrusts.
“Keep your eyes open. I want to watch you come apart.”
The intensity of his voice broke something within her and Keila cried out as searing pleasure washed over her. Her core clenched around his cock and she felt Jason thrust forward before grabbing her hips and holding himself against her, grinding his pelvis into hers as he came inside her, moaning out her name.
Spent, Keila closed her eyes as Jason peppered her face with kisses. She felt him withdraw from her body and leave the bed to take care of the condom. When he slipped back into bed and pulled her to him, she was already falling asleep.
27
The room before her was quiet and dark, and she could barely make out shadows across the room in the dim light. Where the hell was she? Her body felt heavy and sore, and she couldn’t quite move right. She found a wall behind her and leaned back on it for support. A muffled struggle sounded from across the room, followed by heavy footsteps and Zero’s unmistakable voice.
Well, shit.
A low groan came from the corner of the room and Keila turned her head to find the source of the noise. Across from her in the room, half sitting and half slumped over on the floor was a girl with mousy blonde hair. No, she was older than that, but not by much. A loud thump sounded behind her and Keila swung around to see Zero dragging something—fuck, someone—across the room. Keila stayed still, her chest barely moving as she breathed as shallowly as she could handle with the panic building inside her. Zero dragged the large lump past her and Keila caught a glimpse of the man; first his dark hair, a hand, a shoulder, a strong jaw, then his face. His very familiar face.
“Jason!”
“Let’s see if she behaves now, Fireman.”
Zero dropped Jason at her feet. Her entire body was frozen, all except for the breath rushing in and out of her lungs. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out; her throat clamped down. Was he breathing, was he even still alive? His body was covered in blood and he lay still.
She felt a sudden hard punch to the side of her head, and the world went dark.
Keila’s eyes flew open and she bolted forward, landing on the hard wooden floor, her feet tangled in the sheets.
Sheets? What?
She heard a quiet groan and the sheet was tugged back up as someone rolled over in the bed next to her. Keila’s slowing pulse raced again and she jumped up.
Sheets! Bed! Oh my God, Jason!
She had fallen asleep wrapped in his arms, and there he still lay, his hair tousled and his mouth falling open slightly as he breathed slowly in and out, deep in sleep. Oh, God, it was a dream. No, a fucking nightmare, but that’s all it was. She was still there and Jason was still there, still alive. Keila soaked in the vision of him, so gorgeous in the dim moonlight. She climbed back into bed and snuggled up against him, chest to chest. Jason didn’t wake, but his arms still snaked around her and pulled her in. Her heartbeat slowed, finding the same rhythm as his, but even as she calmed, she couldn’t close her eyes.
She sat up in bed, missing Jason’s warmth the instant his arms fell away. The moonlight stealing in from the window made his skin almost glow, the light reflecting off a small bead of sweat still glistening on his forehead from their lovemaking earlier. His lips, softer than she could have imagined, begged her to kiss them again. She leaned over, and taking extreme care not to wake him, touched her lips to his and brushed his mouth with a feather-light kiss. Jason shifted in his sleep and smiled, but still he didn’t wake. She longed to see his eyes, feel his lips on hers again, his hands touching every part of her, but instead she sat there, silently, breathing him in.
It was just a dream.
But what if it wasn’t?
Her dreams had never been prophetic; that was Emily’s gig. But then, she’d never entered the dreams of one of the girls before and had them speak back. That was new since Emily, too. Keila frowned. From what Emily had told of her story, at first she dreamed only of events past, easy to dismiss as regular dreams. But that quickly escalated to dreams of the future, the very near future, and then dreams of right fucking now. Just before Juan had been caught, she’d been inside his head, sharing every sick detail as he hunted and tortured innocents, trying to find Emily again. She shivered. Was that what was happening to her? She always had to be geographically close to a girl to be able to connect their minds, and God knew she’d never been closer to anyone than she had with Jason that night, both in body and soul. What if the gruesome vision in her head was exactly that? She knew Zero was lurking somewhere nearby, almost constantly the previous few days, as well as his mysterious boss. Had her mind somehow connected with all of them in some kind of beautiful torture and revealed where the path she was on would lead?
Keila traced a finger down Jason’s cheek, making love to him all over again in her mind. Her hand drifted along the toned muscles of his arm draped across his forehead, then down along his pecs, his abs. She sat there silently in the moonlight, experiencing every touch, every thrust, the explosion of bliss over and over again in her mind. Jason had split her wide open and showed her the beauty inside her soul, and Keila would never forget that. She wanted to remember him, remember that moment, for the rest of her life.
Because it could have been a dream, just a dream. But it could also so easily be something else. And she wouldn’t take that risk. Not with him. Jason had given Keila her life back, just for one short shining moment, and she wouldn’t risk his to keep it.
She pressed a hand against his chest, feeling his heart beat beneath her palm, kissed him one last time, then slid into her clothes. She scrawled a note, ignoring the wet splashes her tears made on the paper.
I love you. Thank you.
Taking only her go-bag, she slipped out the door and into the night.
28
Jason awoke with a smile on his face, his dream still lingering. After wrapping Keila in his arms and falling asleep listening to her slow breathing, he’d dreamed of the future, of a future with her. They’d defeat her past, he was sure of it. Visions of dancing with her, kissing her, him down on one knee, even a family, babies. He wanted that with her; he wanted it all. He knew her life was complicated; hell, it was more than that, but he didn’t care. Keila had made an impression on his heart, on his soul, and already he’d walk through the gates of hell itself with her just to be by her side.
He rolled over, reaching for her, and furrowed his brow in confusion. The sheets were cold. He sat up, pushing back the quilt, and listened. His apartment was quiet. What the fuck? Keila was never quiet. Even in her worst moments, when she’d been hurting so badly he was worried she may not come out of it, she cried, she screamed and cursed. Hell, half the time he was the one she was telling to fuck off. Jason didn’t care; he’d take that any day over the all-consuming silence. His apartment felt cold, wrong.
Jerking to his feet, he ran down the hall, his feet slapping on the cold tiles of the hall, echoing his panic. His kitchen was empty. So was the living space, the clothing they’d left draped over furni
ture gone. Searching madly through the room, he found a note resting on the countertop. Thank you? What the hell did that mean? Then he noticed the rest.
I love you.
Jason almost fell to his knees in the kitchen. He’d been happy—at least he had thought he was—hanging with the boys, indulging in a warm and willing body when the urge took him. Then Keila crashed into his life, almost literally, and his life would never be the same. Seeing her lying there, terrified as that psychopath stood over her, it changed something within him, seared something into his heart, and she was his from that moment, even if neither of them had known it. Jason had known he loved her from the moment their lips first met, but he knew he had to be gentle, patient. Keila’s heart had been almost destroyed by those who made her life a literal living hell, and it would take time for it to mend enough for her to let him in. The words flew at him like a physical hit. Five simple words, scratched out on a piece of notepaper in his kitchen.
She loved him, and she was gone.
A breeze blew in from a window left ajar and shocked Jason into action. He pulled on his dirty uniform pants still crumpled by the front door. They were streaked with soot and still smelled like a chimney, but Jason didn’t give a fuck. Anything to get him outside. He slammed his front door open, not stopping to close it as he ran to the elevator, slapping the button before giving up and heading for the stairs. The cold night air hit his bare chest as he ran out onto the street, but Jason ignored it. He looked left, then right; nothing. He ran nearly two blocks, the pavement chilling and tearing at his bare feet, but there was nothing. She wasn’t there.
“Damn it, Keila!”
A woman walking past looked up in shock, before her expression changed as she took him in and Jason realized he was standing in the middle of a city block in nothing but a pair of long slung pants. His shoulders slumped and he shot a glare at the woman, who already looked like she was about to approach him, and then started jogging in the other direction. Keila wasn’t there, and there was no point running through the streets half naked looking for her. If she wanted to lose a tail, then she would. Jason walked back into his apartment, slamming the door closed that time. He had a phone call to make.
Snatching up his phone, Jason cycled through the last few outgoing calls. There it was! Whatever had made Keila leave in the middle of the night had at least distracted her enough to forget to wipe his call log. That fact relieved a little of the overpowering worry as to what exactly had happened to make her think she needed to leave. Didn’t she know from what had happened so far that he’d support her through anything?
“Hello?” a male voice answered, not what he was expecting. He panicked for a moment before a rational thought made it through the swirling chaos running through his head. Keila was out there somewhere, damn it.
“Reece? I was expecting Emily. Is she—”
“Who is this?” the voice cut through his question. From Jason’s brief encounter with the pair, he reckoned he had about ten seconds to explain himself before the FBI agent on the other end of the phone would hang up, then likely track his call and send his buddies around.
“This is Jason, Keila’s friend,” his voice nearly ended on a question. What the hell was he? Shit, had he done something to drive her away? “Can I speak to Emily, please?”
“No. What’s going on?”
Jason couldn’t blame him, not really. If Reece’s feelings for Emily were like what he felt for Keila—and any moron could tell they were—he would protect her at all costs. Had Emily been so stubborn, too? Keila could handle herself; she had for nearly her entire life, but—damn it!—she shouldn’t have to. Just the thought of her out there alone, tracking Zero alone, nearly brought him to his knees again.
“Keila left while I was sleeping, and I can’t find her. Do you know where she is?”
There was quiet on the end of the phone before Jason heard a whisper and shuffling.
“Are you sure she wants to be found?”
Emily. Thank God.
“I don’t know. For all I know she wants my head on a stick, but I’m worried about her. She discovered something yesterday, something bad, and I’m worried. Can you use your magic powers or whatever and find her?”
Emily sighed. “I don’t know if it really works like that.”
“Please.”
Muffled whispers again, then Reece was back.
“Meet us at the diner down the road from Emily’s apartment. We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Watch your six and don’t be late. I won’t wait for you.”
The phone beeped off in his ear and they were gone. As he kicked on some more weather-appropriate clothing and grabbed his jacket, Jason whispered a prayer that Keila was safe, that she was okay, and he didn’t just mean uninjured. He hadn’t been the praying type in the past, but he’d take anything he could. He could only hope that whatever was inside Keila to make her special was inside Emily, too, and that she could find her. If something happened to Keila, if he failed to protect her . . . Jason didn’t want to think about what would happen after that.
You love her. She’s gone, and it’s completely screwed up, but you still love her.
Jason hailed a cab to the diner. No way was he going to risk Reece getting spooked and leaving before he got there. On the way, he scanned every street, looking for a glimpse of Keila’s long blonde hair. If—no, when!—he found her, he was going to be very hard pressed not to just lock her in his apartment, tied to the bed. He would keep her safe, even if she hated him for it. An image of Keila tied to his bed entered his mind and his cock grew hard. The idea of such a strong, independent woman submitting to him was a massive turn-on. Oh, the things he could make her feel if she let herself go. Between his fear for Keila, his frustrations with Reece, and his unexpected lust, his sanity was nearly at stake. A memory of Keila lying beneath him, closing her eyes as he sank into her slammed into his mind and Jason couldn’t hold back his groan. He had to find her. There was no other option.
Exactly ten minutes later, Reece’s scowl was the first thing to greet him. The man sat against the wall, facing the door and with Emily tucked into his side. Jason felt immediately drawn to her intense green eyes. Like Keila’s, it was almost as if the universe swirled away in their depths. Before he’d met Keila, he would have told anyone who asked that psychics were sideshow freaks, or fat old women living out of motor homes and playing a con. But after what he’d seen, he knew that nothing could be further from the truth. Reece would do anything to protect Emily, and before she disappeared, Emily was Keila’s only concern and so that made her Jason’s as well. Until he found Keila again, he’d help her however he could.
He met Emily’s eyes across the diner and she smiled at him. Jason felt his tensed muscles relax somewhat and he slid into a seat across the table.
“Next time you lose your woman,” Reece said, “can you try doing it when the sun is up, at least?”
Jason ignored him and caught Emily’s eye. “I’m sorry.” She smiled again, as if she could tell he meant for more than just waking them up.
“Tell me what happened,” she said. Emily signaled to a leggy redhead for another coffee. She came over and Jason read her name tag: Cathy. Jason avoided the hard stare Reece was giving him and explained.
“And then she was gone. I don’t know when or why, or even if it’s because of me. What if someone threatened her after yesterday?”
Reece’s eyes sharpened. “And why would they do that?”
Jason remembered Keila’s reaction to what they’d found out. God, she’d been almost catatonic for minutes. Was sharing what they’d overhead betraying what trust Keila possibly had left in him? She had been fiercely protective of Emily; would she even want her to know?
“If you won’t talk, then what the hell are we even doing here?” Reece asked, and Emily smacked him on the shoulder.
“Play nice, or I might just leave you both here and go find her on my own.”
Jason resisted the urge to grab
her hand; he suspected Reece might have a small problem with that, but he couldn’t hold the excitement from his voice. “You can do that, you can find her?”
“I can try, but I can’t usually control my dreams,” she touched his arm lightly and Jason swore that Reece growled under his breath. “I don’t want to get your hopes up. I’m not nearly as powerful as Keila, and I don’t know how to tap into my powers when I’m awake like she can.”
And just like that, the rising hope slipped from his grasp again.
“I can’t leave her out there. I don’t care why she felt she had to leave, she doesn’t have to do this alone.”
Emily spoke again. “No, she doesn’t. I’m beginning to realize that none of us do. I’ll try, just pray that I get lucky.”
That he could do. Luck hadn’t been on their side so far, bringing Keila and him together finally in a night of ecstasy before throwing her back out to the wolves. Remembering that night, Jason was sure that whatever the cause, Keila felt she had no other option but to run. She wouldn’t leave him just because. What they’d shared had been too soul-deep for it to be anything else. He balled his fists and tensed his jaw. Emily could try all she wanted, it worked or it didn’t, Jason didn’t care. He wasn’t giving up until he found her, ever. Luck was a bitch, it was time he evened the score.
Keila (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 2) Page 14
