The Deadfall

by Lilly Black

  When she looked up at the paths of salt water now streaming down his face as he stood hunched over, unable to make eye contact with her, she realized that he wasn't lying to Alek like she thought. Something fucked up had happened to this kid, something really fucked up.

  "Hey," she whispered as she stood and slowly approached him. "It's okay. You're safe here."

  Then she hugged him, and the six-foot-tall, former football star collapsed, sobbing in her arms.

  After Austin had opened up to Savannah and began to share his story, it pained her to have to put him back in his cell because the lie she told to manipulate June into releasing him had actually been the truth. He was a kid who found himself in a situation where he had to play along or die, and though he yearned for death, there was a reason he had forced himself to go on for so long, a reason that hurt too much to think about.

  On the balcony outside, Rey had waited quietly so Austin wouldn't be embarrassed to know that he listened to the whole thing, and Savannah asked him to wait a little longer when she went out there to get his clothes. Rey came in when Austin went back into the bathroom to get dressed, then the two of them escorted him back to his cell with Sally and Bella following, covering him with their guns just in case. But Savannah knew he would not try to run.

  "I'm going to get you out of here," she promised, fighting back tears as she walked inside the cell with him.

  "It's okay, Savannah. This is better than I deserve," he said, and she turned away and hurried out the door, heartbroken for Austin. She was supposed to stay with Rey for the next hour and wait for the new guard shift to arrive, but Kylie volunteered in her place because they didn't need any guards to see Savannah crying and get suspicious, especially considering the kids weren't supposed to be on guard duty in the first place. Tomorrow, they would come clean with her mother about what they had done, but tonight, the last thing they needed was somebody dragging General Navarro out of bed. It was the last thing the general needed too. She was having a very, very good night.

  Liana's Journal

  Day 49

  When Aiden got home tonight, I had everything ready for him - dinner in the oven, candles burning, sexy lingerie beneath my dress. I had raided Olivia's closet since the new things she stocked were mostly black leather, and I was wearing a hot pink bustier that perfectly complemented my bronze skin. I couldn't wait to show it to him, and thankfully, when he saw all the work I had done, he didn't start complaining about politics like he always seems to do when I have BDSM on my mind. Of course tonight, I didn't care if he tied me up. I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to worship every inch of my body with his eyes, hands, and tongue, and he did not seem like he had any intention of disappointing me.

  "Dinner smells delicious, but do I have to have it now or can it be reheated after I have you?" he asked with a fiery stare when he came out of the bathroom, a damp towel hanging low on his hips, exposing the faint pathway of dark hair from his navel down.

  "I don't care if I eat at all," I said, turning off the oven, and Aiden was suddenly on me, pinning me against the counter in the kitchen.

  "You look fucking amazing," he whispered as he kissed my ear.

  "You should see what's under my dress," I said, but instead of taking it off me, he fell to his knees, slowly inching the hem up my legs, and chasing it with his tongue. As he got closer to the tiny pink g-string, I could feel that it was completely soaked with my excitement, and I thrust my hands in his hair, pulling his face against my crotch through the fabric. He nuzzled into me, and his hot breath sent a wave of arousal through my entire body that left my nipples so hard, they ached.

  Then he looked up at me as he cautiously began pushing the skirt higher, asking my consent with his eyes, expecting me to stop him as always, but tonight there would be no stopping him. I grabbed the dress and pulled it over my head, tossing it across the room.

  "Oh, my God," he growled as he knelt there, my panties directly in front of his face for the first time.

  "No more rules," I whispered.

  "You mean it?" he asked, and I barely had time to nod before he was on his feet, hoisting me onto the kitchen table. He pushed the clean plates and forks out of his way, and I could hear them hitting the ground behind me. Then he laid me back, grabbed the thin straps on the side of my panties, and tore them away.

  He couldn't take his eyes off me, shifting them gradually from my face to where my nipples peeked through the sheer fabric of my bustier then downward, and the smile on his lips was positively decadent as he slid his hands between my thighs and parted my legs.

  "I've been dying to taste you," he whispered as he leaned in so close, I could feel the warmth of his mouth on my erect clit before his tongue made the first, amazing swirl over it.

  "Oh, Aiden!" I moaned, my entire body shuddering. It had been so long since a man had done this to me, and this was Aiden LaCroix! His were the eyes I saw in my mind every time I used Bob as a substitute - the deep brown eyes I had imagined looking into mine from over my mound.

  He tried to tease me slowly, but there simply was no teasing me. I was too aroused, the slightest motion of his tongue like a deep tissue massage, and he knew it too! He was so pleased with himself as he made me moan, jolt, and writhe with so little effort. He realized that the challenge was not to make me come but to make me last, and he was definitely up for it.

  He moved away from my clit, flickering his tongue softly all around it, and even without direct contact, I could feel the orgasm approaching. Every touch brought me closer, no matter how slight or far away from the target, and when he grabbed my calves in both hands and pushed my legs as wide apart as they would go, I finally lay trembling in the deliciously vulnerable position that had been long-denied me.

  Then he stopped.

  "Look at me, Liana," he commanded. I opened my eyes, gazing downward to see his tongue returning to my clit, and the cocky look in his eyes as he stared back at me said very clearly that he was about to end me. I grabbed the edges of the kitchen table in anticipation, and he pressed his face into me, darting his tongue wildly until I felt my whole body devastated by a sudden, violent ecstasy.

  "Oh, yes! Aiden! Yes! Yes! Yeeeesssss!" I cried as I convulsed against his beautiful face, and he kept going, bent on claiming every last bit of pleasure I had to give. I hadn't experienced this in so long, it felt like the first time, and when I finally began to come down, I wasn't even able to form complete words as I pulled away from him, giggling.

  "Oh, my gah...Aid..oh, gah..." I mumbled, and he laughed as he leaned over me, kissing me gently on the forehead while I struggled to recover.

  "You don't know how bad I've wanted to do that to you, mon cœur," he whispered.

  "Me too," I said, but realizing I still wasn't making myself clear, I sat up and reached for his towel, intending to return the favor.

  "Uh-uh," he said, grabbing my hands, and when he pulled me off the table and spun me around to bend over it, I lost my will to argue. Slowly, he began to slide his massive cock into me, inch by inch.

  "Oh, God, Aiden," I moaned as he heaved my body back against his then pushed me away, all but the tip slipping out of me. I wanted more, but he was stubborn, unwilling to give me control. He grabbed my arms, folding them behind my back and using them to pull me into him, forcing me to accept his pace, and as it lifted my shoulders with each thrust, I found my body curved into an angle I'd never experienced before. His cock was suddenly hitting a sweet spot inside me in a new and different way, and it felt positively divine.

  "Oh, yes," I whimpered, so stunned by this foreign sensation, I couldn't do much else. It was taking me over until I became nothing but the intense, burning pleasure inside. My breathing grew rapid and shallow. My thighs trembled. My fingernails dug into my own skin as he kept my arms held tightly behind me, and only then did Aiden speed up, fucking me ever more voraciously until we were smacking into each other so hard, it was as if our bodies were applauding his amazing skills as his hips poun
ded against my ass.

  My toes curled, my eyes rolled back into my head, and I could tell I was on the verge of something incredible, something...miraculous.

  Oh, my God! I thought. Is this...is this...

  "Oh! My! God!"

  The words came barreling out of my chest in an anguished growl as I experienced an explosion like never before. Suddenly, everything inside felt like pure rapture. I pulled my hands free and grabbed the side of the table with a white-knuckled grip so I didn't accidentally throw myself into the floor as I convulsed against Aiden's phenomenal cock, and it responded to my pleasure, joining me so abruptly, it surprised its master. Aiden groaned my name, thrusting deep and hard as his orgasm filled me, soothing overwrought nerve endings that still throbbed with a new, unexpected bliss.

  He leaned over me, his cock now motionless inside me, and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck just before he kissed me there. I wanted to say something. I wanted to tell him how unbelievable it was...how no one else had ever done that to me...how this was the best sex I'd ever had in my life, but all I could manage was a weakly whispered...

  "Ay. Dios. Mio."

  "So, uh...what brought that on?" Aiden asked as he and Liana sat in the kitchen catching their breath. She was on the edge of the table completely naked as he sat in a chair, his towel draped over his lap.

  "What do you mean?" she asked.

  "I think you know what I mean," he said with a smirk.

  "Oh. Well, the truth is..." she trailed off and sighed as she slid off the table into a chair beside him. She didn't want to make up a lie, but she couldn't exactly tell him the whole truth either. She looked up into his eyes, deciding on a very abridged version.

  "I was shy about it before because I had some...blemishes on my inner thighs."

  "What are you talking about? You're skin is flawless," he argued.

  "I finally found something that worked," she said.

  "You honestly mean to tell me that you deprived me of that for almost two months because you were worried about me seeing a few, little bumps?"

  "It's embarrassing," she said.

  It's insulting! he thought, but he didn't say anything or let his feelings show because he didn't want to start a fight on the heels of the most amazing sex they'd ever had. There was only one thing that could make it more amazing - if he was able to be as free with her as she had been with him just now - but that was not an option, at least not without a blindfold and some wrist cuffs.

  Then a smile spread over Aiden's face as he realized she had just paved the way for him.

  "Lots of things are embarrassing, Liana, and some things are downright insulting. I'm the one person in this world you're supposed to be completely comfortable with," he said, the combination of his harsh tone and grin confusing her.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." she began, but he cut her off.

  "Don't speak," he insisted, putting his finger to her lips. "Listen. You had no faith in me, mon cœur. You had a secret that was really no big deal at all, but you didn't trust me enough to give me the chance to tell you that I didn't care."

  "But you don't know how bad it was," she protested, and he shushed her again.

  "I don't care how bad it was. I love you," he said, and though her eyes grew wide and glazed over as she heard those words from him for the first time, he didn't even give her a chance to reciprocate. "I love everything about you, Liana, but you've been a very bad girl. You didn't trust me with the truth, and now I have to punish you for it.

  "So it looks like we're going to start using the equipment in that secret room after all, but it's not going to be me strapped to it. Do you understand me?"

  "Yes," she said sheepishly.

  "Yes, what?"

  "Yes, Master Aiden?"

  "Good girl," he said, then he let his detached demeanor fade until he was once more the man she knew so he could properly remind her that his desire to be her Master was not the only revelation he made tonight. The legs of her chair scraped across the tile as he pulled her close to kiss her on the top of the head.

  "Je t’aime, mon cœur," he whispered, and with her lips against his bare chest, she echoed him, fighting the urge to cry tears of joy as she held onto him for dear life.

  June's Journal

  Day 50

  It's after 5:00 am. I can't sleep. Earlier, I helped Savannah and the other kids try to get that boy, Austin, to talk about what happened to him in his old group. It was a good distraction, but now that he's back in his cell and everyone has gone to bed, I can't make my mind shut down. I need to know if my plan worked out for Olivia. You see, the thing is, I didn't really want to have sex with Alek. I just wanted to help Olivia finally get over her issues so she could be with him, and I knew the threat of him being with another woman would be the quickest way to make that happen. I never dreamed she'd actually let it get to the point that he came to my cabin, but at least he did the right thing.

  And he's so sweet. He came here after he finished working for the day, took a shower, and had dinner with me. The conversation was so easy with him. He said I was a great cook, and he told me how pretty my hair is when I wear it down. Then we sat down on the couch and scooted close together. That's when he kissed me, and I let him because I thought maybe that's what he needed to do to realize that he couldn't be with any woman but Olivia. It was just a kiss - just a sweet, soft, perfect kiss.

  Okay. This is stupid. I'm tired of pretending, and even if I lie to everyone else in the world, it's ridiculous to keep lying to my freaking diary! So, I'm going to try being honest for a change, and I don't even care if someone reads it someday. I've spent my whole life so worried about what other people think of me, I've barely lived at all.

  So, here's the honest-to-God truth:

  That kiss was everything I've ever dreamed about. He took my face lightly in his hands, looked down into my eyes as his lids slowly closed, and for the first time since college, I felt turned on by something so simple as a kiss. I'd forgotten what it was like. Kissing Jimbo had become more like wrestling with our faces because he was so rough and selfish, but Alek was different. It was gentle yet intense, and I felt a sensation in my breasts and between my legs that was so powerful, when he pulled away from me, I thought I'd die.

  He slid onto the floor on his knees, and oh, dear Lord! I thought he was about to do things to me with his mouth, and I was completely ready, shivering and on fire at the same time, unashamed to be excited for once in my life. Then the rug was suddenly and cruelly pulled out from under me when instead he started apologizing and begging my forgiveness. He said that he wanted to be with me but couldn't because he loved another woman, and even though I was falling apart inside, I did the only thing I could do at that moment.

  I told him that it was all a scheme to get him and Olivia to realize that they belonged together. There was nothing about that statement that wasn't a lie. I really did want to sleep with him. I don't think I've ever wanted anything so much, and when he left, I was so depressed, I felt like I could have just walked out in the woods and let the zombies take me. This was supposed to be the best night of my life, and it was darn near the worst.

  After that, all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and cry myself to sleep, but Savannah knocked on my door, so I had to suck it up and deal with her. Then when that was finally over, the boys came back home from night fishing, so I had to pretend to be happy while I put their catch in the fridge and promised to cook it for dinner tomorrow night. After they went to bed, I tried to get some sleep, but I just kept thinking about what happened tonight and crying, so I decided to write in my journal, thinking maybe if I stuck to the lies I told Alek, I could convince myself. I should have known it was a stupid idea. I couldn't even talk myself into going and getting the darn thing until almost 5:00 am because I'd been hiding it in Olivia's office, which is right beside her bedroom. I didn't want to risk hearing Alek in there with her doing all the things he was supposed to do with me tonight.

 
; I waited until I was certain they'd be asleep, but I still swear I heard her crying his name. Freaked out, I grabbed my journal and ran, trying to tell myself it was just my imagination torturing me. Now I can't get it out of my head as I sit here in the corner of the lodge writing this. I have at least another hour to wait because I can't go back home and risk my boys waking up and seeing how puffy my eyes are from crying all night. They'll know because their father made me cry like this plenty of times. But I'm not comparing Alek to Jimbo. I'm not even mad at Alek.

  How can I fault him for being a good man? I just wish he could be my good man, but that's never going to happen now, especially if Olivia had sex with him last night. I could never compete with her. I don't know how to do anything other than just lie there and wait for it to be over, but I don't think it would have been like that with Alek. He could've taught me things. He wanted to. He said it himself. He said he would have been honored to be the first to share something so beautiful with me. That's what he called it. Beautiful.

  God! I wish he had just been an a-hole! It would have made everything so much easier. I want to hate him. I want to hate Olivia. Actually, I do kinda hate Olivia. She gets everything. She had a rich husband who worshipped the ground she walked on, and now she has the most perfect man in the world as her lover.

  And I have nothing. Nothing at all.

  June closed her journal and took another drink of the hot chocolate she had made earlier. It was cold now, but she didn't even care enough to warm it up. She was just killing time. Once her boys woke up, if they found her gone, they would automatically come to the lodge for breakfast, then she could sneak home the back way so she didn't have to see them until she could get the swelling to go down around her eyes.

  As she sipped her drink in front of the fire, a door opened on the second floor that overlooked the great room, and Ravi stepped out quietly, trying not to wake his roommate. He had planned to grab something to eat before his morning shift at the rear gate, but when he saw that June was sitting below, he slipped back into his room to grab the prize he'd obtained on the scavenging mission the day before. He had been looking for a particular book for days, volunteering for every assignment until he found it after looking under the mattresses and in the nightstands of more than a hundred homes.