by Suzanne Hart
She took a second to let what she had said register, noting just one tiny detail to herself in her book.
She continued, without letting me say a word. “The death of your father is a shock for you maybe, and unexpected. We only just got news of that about an hour ago. He was ill though?”
I closed my mouth deliberately, looking at my hands as I folded them in front of me. I thought of Mama, when she died. That gave the impression I wanted to convey.
Good.
“We can help you with some counseling once we have some more intel, uh… information about your father. For now, we need to focus on getting you back to where you were a few days ago, before the kidnapping.”
“How long have I been gone?” I asked, still unsure of how long it had been.
“I can’t go into that right now, Mia,” she said calmly. Then her eyes narrowed and she looked concerned. I felt myself about to scream, or get sick, or both.
“I…I… But I was there for days! Surely!” I pleaded, not wanting to believe she couldn’t be straight with me on that point.
Parker sighed. “Toxicology shows a lot of weird dope in your system, they also deprived you of oxygen, and so this will play tricks with your mind.” She noticed I didn’t look convinced. I didn’t trust her, and it showed. Her face softened. “Look, Mia. It’s an awful lot to take in, I know we’re not giving you much to work with here, but I need you to at least try and trust me, okay? For your own benefit.”
“Where’s Mikey?” I asked, point blank.
“We don’t know. Same with Bernardi.” I believed her, even though I knew Mikey was still alive. “There was some major seismic activity before our team could reach the island to rescue you. The plan was for drones to disable the island’s security, and drop gas, giving Giles a chance to get you out into the open, so we could pick you both up, and collect Bernardi and your brother at the same time. A few miles out, the storm ditched our drones and the ground under the island appears to have literally opened up. It swallowed the whole group of islands in that area.”
My mind raced back to the domed room, being torn apart by huge columns of rock pushing up through the floor. The freezing salt water gushing in, the deafening roar of the whole place. I hadn’t imagined that.
“But what about who took me in the first place? Giles says it wasn’t Bernardi, but he was there the whole time, and why was Mik-- Why was my brother there, had they kidnapped him too?” I hadn’t meant to blurt out the question, but I needed more answers, and faster than it looked like she was prepared to give them to me.
“We just don’t know at this point, Mia. The FBI was taken by surprise, and so were we. Whoever snatched you had to have enough resources and information at hand to outsmart the FBI and the… well, to outsmart us at the same time. It’s a highly organized operation; we think Bernardi was being forced to play his part as much as you and even the FBI were.” She stood abruptly, seeming to hear something I couldn’t. Then I noticed the tiny bud in her ear.
“When can I go home?” I asked, genuinely wanting to get back now. To go to my father’s house, to see for myself what was happening, to have Jack tell me what was going on.
It seemed strange at the time, but I had a growing sense of trust for Jack, apart from all the other feelings. I knew I could trust him, even though I’d only spoken to him a few times on the phone already. Even though he wasn’t there for me in person, he made more sense than everybody else put together.
“We’ve prepared a media leak to be released soon. It will tell people, whoever took you, and the Bernardi’s that you are back, that in fact; you never left. We’ll be spotlighting the media for the misinformation of the original story. You went on a short holiday without telling anyone. You’re a big girl, the media and security teams overreacted, blah blah blah…”
I felt my lips creasing into a frown. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that, Ms. Parker. Not until I know more about what actually happened. I mean, what the media actually reported. I also need a brief from my security team. They aren’t all FBI agents, surely?”
I could feel the regular Mia beginning to surface. It felt good, even though I looked like hell. Who the fuck were these people anyway?
“If you insist on keeping me against my will, after being kept against my will…” I began.
Parker smiled. Her perfect teeth catching all of the soft light in the room and beaming it back to me. “That’s the spirit, Mia! That’s exactly the type of attitude we want from you right now! We need you to get back to business, to demand answers, to kick some ass… Just don’t mention us. Not yet, anyway.”
I let my head fall back onto the pillows. The weight of everything was suddenly bearing down on me. Parker’s cell pulsed, and she answered. It gave me some time to stop talking and start thinking.
Oh, Jack. I’ll be home soon. You’ll be there; we can finally… Hold on a second, Mia! Not so fast!
It was too late though. I was already clawing at Jack in my mind. Parker said something I didn’t hear, then left. I felt myself slipping back into darkness. A warm, moist darkness, with the soft sand of the beach and the crashing of the waves.
Twenty-Three
Jack
I had to trust in Rollins to carry out his part of the plan. Mine was to get the real, very-much-alive Don Leone out of there, to the safe house, which I still wasn’t thrilled about, given recent events.
As I was returning to the hearse, I could see that Don Leone was on a cell phone, in animated conversation. I stormed over, about to snatch the thing from his hand. Brown was suddenly standing between us, holding his hands up at waist height.
“What the fuck is going on? I can’t leave you alone for five min--” Brown shrugged, puckering his lips to a frown as his hands turned palms up, hoping to make some sense out of it all himself.
Don Leone had turned away from us to continue talking. I madly scanned the roofline, the grounds, we had to get out of there, and who the fuck was he talking to anyway? He was supposed to be dead!
I had to risk upsetting him, so I gently guided him from behind by both his shoulders, back to the car. He got in the front seat without protest, still talking in lively Italian. I ordered Brown to get us out of there, and we took another service road that led to the rear of the estate where I’d arranged an old gate to be left unlocked so we could exit the grounds, undetected.
My mind was racing, each word I heard from Don Leone’s mouth filled me with a new sense of bitter resentment. Months of planning had gone into this moment, it was supposed to be fool-proof, and there he was... talking on the goddamned phone! I had to check myself, pull it back into focus. I’d let my emotions get the better of me for days now. It was time to get back to work, to focus on the job at hand, and only that.
It’s your funeral, buddy. If Don Leone wanted to blow it now --or if he had another part to the plan I didn’t know about, then fine. I was reaching the point where I really didn’t care about what happened anymore.
Just when I was reaching the pits of my own self-pity, Don Leone nudged me. “Eh, is someone. They want to-ah, talk to you.” His eyes were shining with mischief. I thought he must still be medicated.
I was going to kick Brown’s ass when we got Leone safe. I snatched the handset with the intention of hanging it up, but my blood froze, then ran hot.
“Jack, Mr. Slade. Mia Leone. I was just telling my father how much I’d like you to be my new head of security, if you’re available.”
“Give us an hour, maybe two,” I shouted into the headset as the pilot navigated the wind, the chopper pitched and dipped, but he got us down without blinking. He mouthed the words two hours, and giving me the thumbs up, lifted off again, arcing out across the sun as it set somewhere across the Florida keys.
The tables had been turned. I was now on the receiving end of secret instructions, of strange pick up and drop off points. It was what Mia had instructed me to do, and I would have walked across lava to get to her.
&nb
sp; Don Leone was safe in his new apartment. It was Mia’s old place. His funeral would be the next day, but he wouldn’t be going. The feds had transformed the upper floor and their story, overnight. The news of Don Leone’s death was the main news on all the networks now; Mia’s kidnapping had been downgraded to ‘vacation without telling anybody.’ She’d sent a memo to all her staff, it was business as usual, and why the hold up on the designs for the next season’s release?
I strolled around the rocky outcrop, clambering over a breakwater, looking for the sand she’d told me to meet her by. I heard somebody calling my name from the opposite direction. I turned around, shielding my eyes from the sunset. I could see her in the distance; there were some dunes not far off.
She was walking along the beach toward me. I began to jog down to her. My mind began to quicken as much as my heart rate. I could run for miles still, without breaking a sweat, but the thought of seeing Mia made me feel nervous. I was sweating. Not from the jog, but from mild anxiety. There wasn’t a soul on the beach or on the surrounding, low, bleached dunes. Not that I could see.
As I got closer I could see her arm in a sling. She had on a long, flowing, fine, white silk robe, with a two piece underneath which left nothing for my imagination. I slowed to a trot, feigning fatigue to delay my approach. My god, she looked stunning. I felt my heart, then my groin go out to her. I had to keep professional though. On the phone she’d been all business, with the faintest hint of flirting, or maybe it was just the way she did things. I was in alien territory.
“Jack! Jack Slade!” she cried again, her eyes shining in the brilliance of the fading light as it sparked off the water. I saw her lower lip tremble slightly as I got closer. As soon as I was close enough, she fell into my arms.
I don’t think I’ve ever held anyone so tight. I was mindful of my own strength compared to her slight frame, but I needed her body to know how much mine had longed for hers. I was telling it I wouldn’t let go, not like I had when she’d gone missing, not ever again.
She was sobbing, then sighing, and finally laughing as we held each other for what felt like an age, but still not long enough. All my questions had been answered by her embrace, even though I still had a million more. I finally held her back, being careful of her shoulder, to look at her. She punched me in the chest with her one good arm, threatening to sob again, in protest at me having lost her.
I was surprised to hear my own voice, it nearly broke, but I sounded more collected than I felt. “I thought we’d lost you for good, for a minute there.”
“A minute?” she said, widening her eyes and softly punching my chest again, then stroking it, a finger slipping between the gap of the buttons in my shirt. “Promise me that won’t happen, ever again,” she said, pleading with her eyes, her whole body moving toward me, then easing back, hesitating.
I felt my mouth going dry. “I can’t promise anything, but I know now how much…” I couldn’t say it. Damn me, I couldn’t bring myself to say it to her. I was too proud, too headstrong to admit my feelings.
Reading my mind, she traced her fingers on my chest again, looking at me with teasing eyes. “There is the slight matter of your reward, Mr. Slade.”
I gulped, feeling my groin beginning to throb.
“It’s over there, behind the sand dune,” she said, taking my hand in hers and leading me, like an awkward teenager off the beach, behind a low dune.
A low silk tent was there, with an array of exotic rugs and cushions, some food was laid out and a bottle of iced water too. Done up in a large silver ice bucket. It looked like a miniature oasis, hidden from view, and from the wind which had now picked up again.
She stood facing me, letting her robe slip over her shoulders, wincing slightly at her visible injury, then moving toward me. I embraced the smallness of her, gently this time, tenderly. I knew what was about to happen and I wanted it to be perfect, like her.
Without words, we undressed each other. Slowly and with interest, we explored the sight of each other’s nakedness. Her eyes widened as mine were sated, finally, at the sight of her stunning beauty in its raw state.
She traced her hands over my chest and stomach, marveling at the lines of musculature and natural firmness. She couldn’t hide her delight at the sight, the feel and the scent of my cock, which was already twitching with anticipation.
I cupped the back of her neck with my large hand, her head and neck fitting perfectly. I wanted to push her down on me quickly, to feel her mouth on me, but I also didn’t want to frighten her. She was so delicate.
I brought her lips to mine instead, framing her face with my hands as we began to explore each other’s mouths. Her breathing was heavy, matching my own heartbeat. I felt her nails on my back, painfully, as she bit my lower lip gently, pulling away from my mouth and placing my hand back behind her neck.
“Make me,” she said, huskily. “Make me do what you want me to.”
Pushing both her feet apart as she stood with one of mine, she gasped as I cupped her sex in my whole hand, pressing the heat of my palm against hers, feeling the moisture swelling on her pubis. I took a small step back and used my hand behind her head to push down, face first and toward my aching cock. She feigned some resistance, but I heard her gasping as she got closer, its size becoming evident as she placed both hands around the thickness of my shaft. I wanted to moan, but I had to take charge, I couldn’t show my emotions. Not yet.
I grabbed a fistful of her long black hair, pulling her head back slightly, catching a glimpse of her wild, bright eyes. And her mouth was open, primed and dripping from red lips to cover the whole of my rigid, dark head with her mouth. I heard her moaning, the vibration traveling down my cock and into my belly. I fought the urge to cry out, and I could feel the pressure to come building already, but it was too soon. I wanted to make this last.
“Only a taste,” I said, gently forcing her face back up to mine. Her fingers traced the soft sheen of pre-cum as it glistened in the sunset. Her whole palm only managing to cup the head of my manhood as it pulsed, rigid with heat, and at near bursting point.
I embraced her tightly again, my heat pressing against her nakedness, up her entire belly, it seemed. Her naked breasts were firm and warm, the thickness of her nipples exciting fresh moans from her as they passed over the firmness of my own rigid body.
“Jack, I…” she began.
“I know,” I whispered. But she didn’t have to say it. I didn’t want her to say it. The honor of being her first was as much as I could bear as I fought hard to stop from shooting my load all over her bare belly as she pressed against me.
I used my feet again to force her legs a little further apart. And she gasped as her own sex was widened, exposed to the coolness of the evening breeze off the ocean, which threatened to brew into a gale as our own storm developed between our bodies. My hand found her tight mound again, she bucked against it, and I could feel the hardness of her clit against the roughness of my palm. I wanted her in my mouth, to taste every bit of her. Her hips began to rotate as she pressed her mound harder against my hand, her own hand finding my huge prick as she began to jerk it furiously, in time with her own hips on my hand.
I felt myself about to explode, so pressed her back, laying her down onto the sumptuous rugs and cushions. Her legs were reflexing up and apart, the sweet smell of her forcing a groan from me as I felt a thick line of warmth run from my own cock and down my shaft.
“Fuck me, Jack. I want you inside me. Ohh, fuck me please!”
I felt both her hands around the head of my cock, pulling it toward her pulsing gap as she heaved and moaned, whimpering for me to enter her. Her legs had wrapped around the small of my back, pulling me closer and closer. I could feel the round smoothness of my head against her opening.
Sexily, her eyes widened, she gasped and mouthed my name. I tried to gently circle her opening, to ease myself inside her, but she wasn’t having any of it. She cried out as she pulled me suddenly from behind with her legs, a
rcing her hips and thrusting her full weight onto the entire length of my whole cock as it slid into her. Her eyes were wide, dilated with a painful ecstasy as she held me there inside her. I knew not to push or thrust, I was just inside her, pulsing, with her own contractions and heat rising on my member.
She cried out again, a few seconds later, wildly as he began to shake all over, her whole body twitching and convulsing in a violent climax on the full length of my cock. I couldn’t hold my own back, and we climaxed together, looking into each other’s eyes as I pumped my thick seed into her. And I cried out too, almost worried at how much I was coming. I’d never come like that in my entire life.
Perfectly, her own wetness ran out of her, down her thighs and over mine as our twitches and cries subsided into moans and purrs, and finally some soft laughter with gentle kisses. We stayed like that for what seemed like ages. I remarked I should get back soon, for the chopper.
Mia laughed. “I gave him the night off, silly. You’re not going anywhere.”
I laughed, then sighed. So happy to be her prisoner. Finally.
Twenty-Four
Mia
Laying there, next to Jack. Finally. No more dreams or wondering what it might be like. I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. Jack was perfect, he must know that, how could he be so gentle and kind at the same time? I wanted him again. Again and again, forever. I was lying there, having the idea of the creative department taking a mold of his thick cock, so I could walk around with it inside me whenever I wanted, when his voice interrupted the plans.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, looking at me strangely. I could only have guessed the look that was on my face, my creative face. “Oh, nothing much,” I lied.
I think I just came up with a new product line. No! The ‘Slade’ is all mine. I won’t share it with anyone. It’s priceless!