Necessary Pursuit (A Trinity Masters Novel)

by Lila Dubois

  “Wait. What? Just the two of us?” Oscar asked. “What about you?”

  Luca sighed. “I am not worthy of your love.”

  Selene, who was next to Luca on the couch, turned to face him fully. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think that. Of course you’re worthy. You deserve so much love.”

  Luca shook his head. “No. I’ve done terrible things. You heard Langston. Mina has nightmares. When she closes her eyes, it’s me there, terrorizing her in her sleep.”

  Oscar scowled. “Dammit, Luca. We’ll visit Mina, explain it to her. You can say you’re sorry and we’ll all move on. It’ll be okay.”

  “I hope that is true, but…”

  “It is true. Now,” Oscar said, rising from his chair and perching on the edge of the coffee table in front of Luca. “Say it back to us.”

  Oscar watched as Luca tried and failed in his attempt not to smile.

  “When I was young, I believed I was in love with Roberto. And maybe I was, but what I felt for him was lukewarm compared to this. I will never regret what we’ve shared. You saved me in ways I can never explain. And even if our destinies take us on different paths, I promise you now…I will love you both until the day I die.”

  Selene tried to discreetly wipe away a tear, and Oscar had to turn his head away. He couldn’t see her cry without adding a few of his own tears to the mix.

  “We can’t…” Selene’s voice broke, but neither he nor Luca needed to hear more.

  Oscar nodded slowly. They couldn’t keep going on this way. The pain of losing them was already more than he could face. To continue…

  Fuck. This couldn’t be completely over. Not after today. Oscar had spent too many hours, holding his breath, terrified. He needed…more. Selfish or not.

  “We all knew going in this couldn’t be forever. I knew when I met you,” Oscar said, looking at Selene. “You were a member and I wasn’t. I knew someday you’d belong to someone, someones, else. But now…”

  “But now our hearts are involved.” Luca’s voice was soft.

  “Which means we have to stop. Cold turkey.” Even saying that made Oscar feel ill.

  “Stop loving one another?” Luca shook his head. “No.”

  “Stop sleeping together,” Selene said. “We start there. We have to put some emotional distance between us.”

  “We’re still going to be together,” Oscar said slowly. “Until we find Joli. Until the Bellator Dei are stopped.”

  “But the day will come when we have to walk away from one another.” Selene’s voice was watery. “And that will be much easier if we stop sleeping together now.”

  “Can we have…tonight?” Luca asked softly.

  “One more night. I can’t let this be over without…fuck…” Oscar ran his hand over his head.

  Luca reached over and grabbed it with his free hand, Selene still clinging to the other. “One more night,” he agreed.

  Selene merely nodded. Speech seemed to be beyond her right now.

  The three of them stood together and walked to the bedroom. To hell with dinner.

  Unlike their previous sexual endeavors, this time they weren’t playing roles, trying new positions, “practicing” ménages.

  They were simply Oscar, Selene, and Luca.

  And they were in love.

  The masks were off and none of them held back as they took their time, kissing, touching, undressing.

  Night had fallen, the room bathed in moonlight.

  Once they were naked, Oscar pulled back the duvet, the three of them climbing beneath the sheets. Luca reached for Selene, pulling her under him. Oscar stroked Luca’s back and ass as he made love to their woman, the two of them rocking together, fighting off their climaxes, neither wanting it to end.

  When it did, Oscar was certain he’d never seen anything more beautiful than the pleasure, the utter bliss on their faces.

  Luca fell to the side, clearing the path for Oscar. Selene twisted at the last minute, flipping onto her hands and knees, giving him a sexy smile over her shoulder. She’d remembered him claiming that doggie style was his all-time favorite position.

  He pushed in hard and fast, both of them gasping. While Luca preferred sweeter, slower lovemaking, Oscar needed a rougher touch, and Selene matched him in those desires.

  She arched her back, thrusting back to meet his forward motion, the action driving him deeper inside her.

  Luca sat up to watch, tracing his finger over the tattoos on Oscar’s arms, his back. Oscar could feel him tracing the letters of his Faith tattoo. Luca had found a way to make him feel better about the damn ink a few nights earlier, proclaiming the word—the noun—was one he felt described Oscar perfectly. Luca saw him as courageous, confident…faithful. And by stroking that tattoo now, it was as if Luca was telling him to have faith, to believe.

  Oscar turned his head and kissed Luca even as he continued to move inside Selene. She watched them over her shoulder, her eyes dark with desire…and love.

  When they broke apart, Luca reached beneath her, playing with her breasts before his fingers drifted lower, to her clit. Selene jerked at the first touch of Luca’s fingers there, and her pussy clenched tighter around Oscar’s dick.

  “God. Yes,” Oscar hissed. “Fuck, Selene. Love you. Love you both.”

  Luca began alternating between stroking Selene’s clit and cupping Oscar’s balls, ensuring both of them were completely out of their minds when their orgasms struck.

  Selene collapsed facedown on the bed, giving them an exhausted grin when they reached out at the same time to caress her perfect ass.

  They lay in the darkness, whispering secrets and sweet nothings, refusing to give in to sleep.

  After an hour or so, Oscar got up to rummage through his luggage. He found the tube of lubrication he’d packed. Selene helped him work it into Luca’s ass, each of them pressing a finger inside him as he panted and begged for more.

  Then Selene slipped beneath him so that Luca could take her once more as Oscar knelt behind him. Placing one hand on Luca’s hip, he guided his cock to his lover’s ass and they all moved together, their bodies completely connected, the perfect union.

  When they came, it was powerful, moving. Bittersweet.

  One last night.

  And now it was over.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Does anyone need more tea?” Percival picked up a white teapot and turned to survey the room.

  Everyone shook their heads, so he poured more into his own cup, then took a seat at the head of the long conference table. The hotel was a modern style, large enough to accommodate all of them, with several meeting rooms. Late last night, Owen had called to tell them that they’d be having a “war council” in the morning in the largest of the conference rooms.

  They’d arrived half an hour ago to find what looked less like a war council and more like a casual breakfast meeting. There was even a buffet set up off to the side. Luca had taken a seat, ignoring the food. When Oscar put a plate in front of him, Luca objected—fear for his sister had tied him in knots—but when Oscar shoved a piece of fruit into his mouth, Luca chewed it, then realized he was starving.

  Now most of the empty plates had been pushed to the side or toward the center of the conference table. Owen sat at one end of the table, Percival at the other. The three American representatives in MPF were seated near Owen. Four of the eight MPF officers from the Masters’ Admiralty were seated near Percival, the other four lounging against the walls or, in Claudette’s case, sitting on the countertop where the coffee and tea was set up.

  That left four spaces in the middle of the table, two on each side, for himself, Selene, Oscar and Langston. Oscar had opted to sit next to his brother, and listening to the two of them bickering had been the meal-time entertainment, at least until Percival called the meeting to order.

  “Thank you all for joining us this morning,” the Englishman said. “Given that each person here has unique expertise and perspective, rather than myself and Ow
en making decisions and identifying assignments, we’d like to solicit input from each of you.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Owen said, “Suggestions for next steps?”

  Luca reached for Selene’s hand under the table. She tangled her fingers with his and squeezed.

  “Continue reviewing security camera footage of the roads,” Milo said. “There’s not much near the compound, but if we expand the net, put more people on it, we might be able to find likely vehicles.”

  The Bellator Dei had several cars used by the numeraries who lived on the compound. They were communal vehicles, which had all still been on site. Everyone on the compound had left, and they’d taken everything from computers to some of the most important religious iconography. Because of that, they had to have used either larger vehicles or a dozen smaller ones.

  “My parents’ house?” Luca asked. Prior to yesterday’s mission, he’d given his parents’ address to Owen and Percival and they’d sent a team to check on not only the house he’d grown up in, but the homes of other supernumeraries—married couples or individuals who didn’t live at the compound. All had been abandoned and stripped of computers.

  “We have a forensic team coming in to do sweeps. We’ll start with your parents’ home,” Milo explained. He was lounging against the wall, looking elegant and brooding and a lot like the imaginary men Luca had conjured during his guilt-filled fantasies as a teen.

  “Thank you.” Luca nodded in Milo’s direction, and the Italian answered with a smile.

  Selene leaned toward him. “I’d be cool with one more night if you still want that gang bang. I vote we get Milo and maybe Rodrigo to join us.”

  Luca tried to turn a startled laugh into a cough.

  Oscar glared at them from across the table. “Hold it together, you two.”

  Luca’s brain was tossing up detailed images of Oscar and Milo together, and it was destroying his focus.

  Oscar made an aggravated noise. “Really, Luca? Time and place, dude.” But he was smiling.

  Luca had felt crushed by sadness and fear this morning, worrying about Joli and devastated by the knowledge his time with Selene and Oscar was over. Leave it to his amazing lovers to find a way to break through all those bad feelings and make him smile.

  Everyone let their byplay go, though a few smiled at either him or Oscar. Luca studiously avoided looking at either Milo or Rodrigo.

  The meeting progressed with various people providing updates or making suggestions. The updates made Luca realize that some of these people had been up half the night trying to figure out where his sister was.

  It was still difficult for him to truly believe there were people this genuinely good in the world. In his experience, no one did anything without expecting something in return.

  “I’m going to work on the laptops,” Oscar said.

  “They’re old models, and if they had anything useful on them, they would probably have taken them,” Percival warned.

  “Still worth a try.”

  “I’d like to help him.” Luca looked back and forth between Percival and Owen. He wasn’t really sure which of the men he should be asking.

  “There’s a smaller meeting room down at the end of the hall.” Owen pointed. “Ridley, can you bring them the box of computers?”

  The big American saluted as he pushed up from his seat. The discussion continued as various possibilities for tracking the Bellator Dei down were debated. It was both fascinating and horrifying how many options there were and how little privacy people really had. The Bellator Dei’s paranoia and distrust, taught to them by their benefactor, whom Luca had heard referred to as Petro by several people, made them a little harder to track, but by no means impossible.

  For those at the table, it wasn’t a question of “if” they would find them, but “when.”

  Ridley returned, holding the plastic storage tub full of old laptops. They were uniform and basic black, and Luca thought they might be the “school” laptops that he and the others at the technical academy had used as part of their instruction.

  Oscar rose, and Luca followed suit. Selene squeezed his hand as he stood up. He smiled back at her, then followed the other two men out of the meeting room.

  Ridley led them to the far end of the generic hotel hallway, then used a keycard to unlock the door. “I stopped by the desk and got these after I grabbed the box out of storage.”

  This room had only a small rectangular table with six chairs around it. Ridley set the box down on the table. “What else do you need?”

  Luca had expected Oscar to open it immediately, but instead, he bent and peered at the laptops through the clear side of the storage bin. “Respirators, gloves, face shields, maybe some plastic to cover the table.”

  “Damn, son, that’s paranoia. I like it. You thinking Anthrax?” Ridley asked.

  “Better safe then fucking dead.” Oscar straightened.

  “Milo’s people are paranoid too, so the vans were outfitted with damn near everything. I’ll go check. If I find a hazmat suit…?”

  “Nah, but if they have Tyvek coveralls, I wouldn’t say no.”

  When Ridley left, Luca went to stand by Oscar. “You think this is a trap?” he asked.

  Oscar slung an arm around his shoulder. “You tell me? In addition to bomb and programming school, did they have a poison school?”

  “Not that I know of, but it’s possible. Almost anything is.”

  “Hey.” Oscar squeezed him. “We’ll find her.”

  Luca hadn’t realized he was letting the worry he felt come through his words. He’d tried to put it aside, to separate his fear so he could focus. Or maybe Oscar just knew him that well.

  It had barely been a week, but for Luca, it felt as if he’d known Oscar and Selene his entire life. He’d held nothing back from them and since he’d joined the Trinity Masters, they’d done the same. This was a relationship unlike anything he’d ever imagined. Perfect. Pure.

  Ridley returned with an armful of stuff, dropping it on the far end of the table, away from the box. “If you need anything else, call us.” He pointed at the phone mounted by the door, near the emergency exit diagram. “You have a cell phone too, right?”

  “Yeah.” Oscar was sorting through the supplies. “This is perfect, thanks, man.”

  “No problem.” Ridley smiled. “Hope you find something useful.”

  When the door closed behind him, Oscar ripped open one of the clear plastic packages and shook out a set of white coveralls. “Suit up.”

  Ten minutes later, they were covered head to toe in white Tyvek suits, gloves, goggles, and respirators. They’d draped the table in plastic and even taped up the HVAC return so if they did unleash something, it wouldn’t spread to the rest of the hotel.

  “We don’t have a way to test for any poison,” Luca pointed out as they stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at the box.

  “Technically we do. If we fucking die, there was poison.” Oscar sounded uncharacteristically cheerful. “Ready?”

  Luca nodded.

  Oscar flipped the latches that secured the lid of the storage box and yanked the top off and—nothing happened. Of course it didn’t. Even if the box was full of poison, they wouldn’t see it.

  Oscar took out the first laptop, turned it over in his hands, and then set it to the side. After the third computer, Luca was too antsy to just watch, so he grabbed the fourth one. All in all, there were six computers in the box. As he walked around the table to set the last one down on the plastic, Luca frowned. He turned the computer over to confirm what his sense of touch had told him. This computer was missing the plastic panel that covered the battery compartment. Newer computers didn’t have battery compartments, but these did.

  Oscar must have seen him looking at the back. “Yeah. These have replaceable batteries. Well, technically all laptops do, but these are old enough that it was back before the industry perfected laptop batteries so they wouldn’t wear out fast. It’s also why they’re so
heavy.”

  Luca touched the patchwork of black electrician’s tape that covered the battery compartment. “I did this.”

  Oscar sighed. “Luca, none of this is your—”

  “This.” Luca pointed at the tape. “I taped this up, for Joli. This is her old computer. The one she used for school.”

  Oscar cursed, but it was a happy fuck. “You sure?”

  Luca’s own excitement was building, though he didn’t know why. Maybe it was just that this represented some tenuous connection with his sister.

  He put the computer down and opened it. There, right where he remembered, was a sticker of a cartoon cat stuck to the casing just to the side of the trackpad.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Oscar hurried around to him, carrying one of the charging cords that had been in the box. It took the computer several minutes to boot up, during which Oscar drummed his fingers on the table in impatient irritation.

  “How old was she?” Oscar asked once the screen lit up. “When she had this computer?”

  “Fourteen, fifteen, maybe. Normally they didn’t educate girls past twelve, but because she was so good, and they saw that, an exception was made. She came to school at the compound, but lived with our parents since there were no dormitories for girls. She even took advanced classes online.”

  “If we had my laptop from that age, we’d see some shit like crappy attempts at programs, saved bits of code…” Oscar’s fingers slid over the trackpad, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.

  “And this might help?” Luca was far from computer illiterate, but he was having trouble figuring out why Oscar was excited, an emotion that had transferred to him.

  Oscar didn’t take his eyes off the screen as he spoke. “When my sister first started sketching and writing poetry, she had this one pen she loved. It was just a normal pen, but it had this pattern on it, and she glued a flower to the top. Even when she started drawing more seriously, when we knew that she was really fucking good, and that the handwritten first drafts of her poems were important and needed to be saved, instead of using nice pens or artist pencils, half the time she still used this old-ass ballpoint pen. Langston would take it apart to put refills in it even though it was supposed to be disposable.”