by Onley James
“Are you sure?” Calder asked, his lips dragging along Robby’s shoulder.
Robby nodded into the pillow. “Yeah, I’m positive. I want you inside me again.”
Robby didn’t open his eyes as Calder’s weight disappeared. He had no doubt that Calder would return. When he did, his fingers were slick with what felt like lube. He sucked in a breath as Calder’s finger pushed inside.
“You okay?” Calder asked.
Robby turned his face towards him. “Yeah, just sensitive.” It wasn’t a lie. Every time Calder’s finger grazed against Robby’s prostate, it sent a jolt through him in a way that was almost uncomfortable.
Calder worked him open slowly, his mouth exploring whatever skin was within reach while he whispered things nobody had ever said to Robby before. That he was beautiful, sweet, perfect…loved. It felt like a dream. The most perfect dream. By the time the blunt tip of Calder’s cock pressed against his hole, he wasn’t sensitive anymore, he was desperate. He didn’t think his body would rally so he could come again, but he wanted to feel Calder filling him up. He needed to feel that connection.
Calder breached him slowly, letting gravity do the work until he was fully seated inside. He wrapped his arms around Robby, lacing their fingers together, his lips pressing kisses to the back of Robby’s throat, his shoulder, his ear. “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he whispered as he fucked into Robby with slow, even strokes. “You feel so good, angel.”
Robby wanted to tell him he felt good too but he couldn’t. He couldn’t get the words out. With Calder’s weight on top of him, his arms around him, his cock inside him, he was drowning in Calder’s touch, his scent. It was all just too much—overwhelming in the best possible way. As Calder’s pace increased, so did the sensation. Robby canted his hips, arching his back for Calder who growled, gripping him even tighter. The change in angle sent every thrust brushing against that spot inside Robby that made him feel like a live wire. “Oh, fuck. Oh, do that again. Harder. Please.”
Calder groaned, his legs forcing Robby’s wide so he could drive into him with the force Robby demanded. “Is this what you want, baby?”
“Yes. Yes. Please. Please. Please,” Robby sobbed, burying his face in the pillow as Calder fucked him with a ferocity Robby had never thought anybody could ever feel for him.
“Christ, I’m gonna come. Fuck.”
Suddenly, Calder’s weight seemed to disappear. “No,” Robby cried. “I want you inside me. I want to feel it.”
Calder froze above him. “Are-Are you sure, angel?”
“Do it. Please.”
Calder’s fingers threaded into Robby’s hair, twisting his head back for a kiss, thrusting his tongue into his mouth in time with his cock driving into Robby’s body. Robby was certain his heart was expanding until it was too big for his chest. Would it always feel like this?
Calder thrust hard two more times before his hips stuttered and he gave a guttural shout. He bit down on Robby’s shoulder as he emptied himself into him. Neither of them moved right away. Calder was softening inside him and they were both sweaty, but Robby didn’t care. “Wow,” he managed breathlessly.
Calder nodded against his shoulder. “Yeah. Wow. I think we’re probably going to need another shower.”
“I feel like we’re going to need a crime scene clean up crew,” Robby teased.
“‘Cause I murdered that ass?” Calder teased.
Robby groaned. “Ugh. Why are you like this?”
“I don’t know, but you fell for me, so what does that say about you?” Calder challenged.
“You fell for me too,” Robby countered before realizing what he said. His heart seized in his chest as he waited for Calder to deny it, even though he’d just said it not an hour ago.
“Yeah, well, falling for you was easy, angel.”
Robby flushed, burying his grin in the pillow. He didn’t think he’d ever been this happy before in his entire life, and for once, it didn’t feel like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. At least, not yet.
“Sit down, angel. You’re going to wear a path on the carpet.”
Robby spared a glance at Calder before resuming his circular pacing around the conference room table, chewing on his thumbnail as he walked. Rebecca was late—by a whole forty minutes—and Robby seemed to have convinced himself that the girl wouldn’t show. That he’d managed to spook her with a simple voice message. Calder wasn’t so sure. The girl had been desperate enough to contact Robby, even knowing all eyes were on him right now. While a cult in the middle of Nowheresville, Kentucky probably didn’t pay the news much mind, Robby’s father had spies everywhere, and Calder had to believe that the man wouldn’t be happy to know his daughter had abandoned her husband.
When Robby wandered close enough, Calder snatched the back of his hoodie and tugged him into his lap, wrapping his arms around the boy’s narrow waist. He wiggled uselessly for a minute, attempting to free himself from Calder’s grasp before finally giving up, sagging against him, defeated. “What if she doesn’t come? What if she’s scared to come here? What if something happened to her because of me?”
Calder shook his head. “How could this be your fault, angel? You’re just caught up in something we haven’t quite managed to unravel. But we will.”
The elevator dinged, announcing another arrival. Robby jerked his head in the direction of the door, deflating as he saw Connelly leave the elevator and head to Linc’s office. He dropped his head in defeat, but Calder watched as a girl followed him off the elevator. Her dark blonde hair peeked out from under a Dodgers baseball cap that did nothing to hide her hollow eyes and sunken cheekbones. She also wore a Dodgers hoodie with her ill-fitting jeans, like she’d had to shop at a kiosk outside the stadium. That had to be her. He nudged Robby. “Look who’s here.”
Robby’s head shot up just as the girl looked towards the glass conference room and spotted Robby sitting in Calder’s lap. Robby rocketed to his feet, hurrying to where she stood. “Rebecca.”
“Obi?” she cried, running into his arms. They hugged each other tightly in the middle of the office.
The siblings clung to each other, unaware of the curious looks they received from the others in the office. Calder stood, aiming to lead them into the conference room where there was slightly more privacy. When Robby saw him standing beside him, he gave him a wet smile. “Rebecca, this is my… This is Calder.”
“Are you his boyfriend?” she asked, her green eyes wide with interest.
Robby’s gaze cut to Calder like he waited for him to deny their relationship. As if he would do such a thing. “Yes. I suppose you could say that.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. He hugged her back, even as his stomach clenched.
“Why don’t we go into the conference room and speak?” Calder asked. “I’d like to have an associate sit in on this, if you don’t mind. It helps to have somebody else in the loop.”
“Sure, that’s fine,” she said, her spunky Kentucky accent the antithesis of Calder’s slow drawl.
Had Robby once had the same accent? He couldn’t picture it. Calder guided Rebecca to a seat and sat opposite her. He’d expected Robby to take the chair beside his sister, but instead, he sat beside him, rolling his chair until it bumped up against Calder’s, like Robby needed him as close as possible.
Calder hit a button on the boomerang shaped device in the center of the conference room table. Linc’s voice filled the space. “Is she here?”
“Yeah, we’re ready for you.”
When Linc entered the room, Rebecca seemed to shrink in on herself, and Calder realized how young the girl really was. Not that much older than Robby really. Maybe meeting here wasn’t such a great idea, after all. If she was intimidated, she might not talk.
“I got your note, obviously. So, how can I help you?” Robby asked, sounding slightly stonier than he had just a moment ago, as if he’d remembered some long forgotten feud.
Rebecca wrapped her arms around herself just like Robby did when he was nervous. “I-I’m scared about what’s happenin’ at the farm.”
It was such a vague statement, but Robby’s leg started to jitter under the table. “What about it?” he asked.
A single tear slid down Rebecca’s cheek, but she wiped it away, sniffling, and then sat up slightly straighter. “I think I made a mistake. I think maybe you were right about the place all along.”
“Rebecca, how about you start by telling us what’s got you spooked enough to come all this way just to hand Robby a note,” Calder said, hoping to steer her towards any helpful information.
“He’s got guns,” she blurted. “A lot of them. And I think he’s got some of the kids makin’ bombs.”
“What?” Robby gasped.
Rebecca shook her head like she didn’t even believe the things she was saying. “I know. I know it sounds crazy, Obi, but he—Samuel—he’s gone crazy, like really crazy.”
“Like guns and bombs crazy?” Robby asked, incredulous.
“It wasn’t like it just happened overnight. It was sort of slow like. At first, he started talkin’ ‘bout how he was the anointed one and how he’d been chosen to raise God’s army, which near as I could tell was just more noise so he could justify why he was sleepin’ with everybody’s wives. But then he started separatin’ everybody, isolating the parents from their kids. Then the women from their husbands. He claimed that they all belonged to him now and he needed to be creatin’ as many babies as he could to raise them up to be soldiers.” She shook her head, clasping her hands together on the table, her fingers twitching. “Then he kicked me out of my own house. Said I was damaged goods ‘cause I still hadn’t gotten pregnant after all these years.” She flushed, her cheeks pinking just like Robby’s.
“Why didn’t you just leave?” Robby asked.
“Where was I gonna go? I don’t know nothin’ else. Besides, once he wasn’t climbin’ on top of me all the time, he started lettin’ me do supply runs, which is when I started going to the library and readin’ up on you and Daddy and whatever else I could find.” She smiled to herself, but then it just slipped away. “Then I found out about Dinah. He’d moved her into our house. She was sat beside him at dinner and she was dolin’ out punishments like a good little helper. Then she showed up to church with a band on her finger and declared herself Samuel’s true wife.”
“I mean, it's not legal, but I imagine none of the marriages performed there are, if that’s your concern,” Linc said.
Rebecca cut her gaze to him. “My concern is that Dinah is twelve years old.”
“Jesus,” Linc muttered.
“Yeah. He’s gone insane. He keeps talkin’ ‘bout the end times and how he’s bein’ persecuted by the government and how Satan is usin’ them to create a new world order. About six months ago, the guns started showin’ up. Crates full. I don’t even know where he’s gettin’ them or how. It’s not like we have money. We’re self-sustainin’. Then, last month, bags and bags of fertilizer started comin’ in and gettin’ stacked in the barn. His talks of doomsday and the apocalypse are getting worse too, and he’s sayin’ that God is talkin’ to him and tellin’ him that sacrifices must be made and not all of them will survive and how it's better to die in service to the lord than to live to be old and do nothin’. He’s crazy. They all are.”
Calder scrubbed his hands over his face. Christ. What was it with these crazy fuckers? Did they truly believe their own bullshit or was this just about power? “Have you tried going to the police?”
“I can’t. They’re on his side. It’s why he moved us away from Kentucky and out here to California. The cops are in on it.”
Robby frowned, his hand reaching for Calder’s under the table, squeezing tightly. “How do you know that?”
“Because I tried to leave a few weeks ago. I wanted to get help, to get to you. But the local police came and got me and drove me back. They said it was in my best interest to not try to leave again.”
“So, you’ve been in California this whole time?” Robby asked.
She nodded. “Samuel said the state of Kentucky was conspirin’ against him and said we had to get out. We just up and left everythin’ behind and ended up on a property in Northern California about two hours from here, but that was before he started to go all weird.”
“How many people would you say are living at the compound right now?” Linc asked.
Rebecca answered without hesitation. “Eighty-six. Thirty of them are children, thirty-one if you count Dinah, but she’s not in the children’s quarters anymore, obviously. I tried to get them out, but he caught me and I was punished.”
Robby’s hand clenched down on Calder’s hard enough to cut off the blood supply. “Punished?” he managed like he had to force the words past his lips. “Did…did he hit you?”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she laughed bitterly. “Oh, he’s gotten way more creative than that. The odd beatin’, cold baths, and kneeling on rice, that’s for the little ones… No, he’s way more imaginative with us adults.”
She shoved up the sleeve of her shirt and showed the rectangular burns across her palms. They appeared mostly healed but were still the bright pink of new flesh, not the shiny pink of a long forgotten scar.
“Oh, my God,” Robby said, blinking back tears of his own. “Why didn’t you—” He cut himself off. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been through worse. But I gotta get to the kids. The others, they’ve made their beds, but those babies did nothing wrong.”
Linc shook his head. “We’re going to get everybody out. Safely. I have a friend who works with the ATF back in Florida. I’m sure he’ll be able to hook me up with a contact here.”
“ATF?” Rebecca asked.
“Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. That’s who handles these types of cases,” Linc said.
“Or mishandles,” Calder muttered. At Linc’s quizzical expression, Calder said, “We all know what happened in Texas. Almost everybody died. Even the kids.”
Linc shook his head. “That was thirty something years ago and they made massive organization-wide changes to make sure these types of things don’t happen again.” Turning his gaze to Rebecca, he added, “We need to do this by the book or Samuel could just walk free, and how much damage do you think he’ll do once your wannabe messiah thinks he’s untouchable?”
Rebecca shoved her thumb into her mouth, worrying her nail between her teeth. Robby looked to Calder. “Do you think this is the right call?”
Calder sighed then nodded. “All things considered, yeah, angel. Taking down a cult of this magnitude requires a very precise strategy. One none of us are equipped to pull off.”
There was a rap of knuckles against the doorframe, and then Webster was sticking his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but can I see you when you’re done? Alone. It’s about that thing you asked me to look up.”
Calder’s stomach plummeted to his boots. He gave a stilted nod. No matter how bad it was, Calder had spent the last three plus decades preparing himself for this moment. If Webster found anything, it likely wasn’t good, but at least it was closure.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Robby asked.
“No, angel. Stay here and spend time with your sister.” To Rebecca, he added, “You’re welcome to come back to the safehouse with us.”
She shook her head. “No, but thanks. I need to keep moving. Samuel already has his dogs after me, for sure. That’s why I have cash and a non-traceable phone this time. I looked it up in the library.”
Calder stood, dropping a kiss on Robby’s head. “You got everything you need, boss?” he asked Linc.
“Yeah, we’re good. For now. Go talk to Webster.”
During the walk to Webster’s office, Calder felt like he was walking through quicksand, each step pulling him farther down, making it harder to breathe. Webster’s office gave Calder anxiety on a good day. He had four s
creens on the wall, each displaying different numbers scrolling rapidly downward like something out of The Matrix. On his desk, papers sat piled high and a PC shared space with a chunky looking laptop. Behind it all, Webster sat in khaki shorts and a pink polo shirt, looking like he was ready for a day of yachting, not hacking into uncrackable systems.
Calder took a seat in the chair across from him. “Whacha got?”
“It could be something or it could be nothing. Sixteen years ago, a body showed up in an alley just over the border in Juarez. No teeth, no fingers, just an E burned into her right breast and a strawberry birthmark on her back shaped like the Death Star.”
Calder grunted, feeling like he’d taken a sledgehammer to his solar plexus. He’d known. He’d known it wouldn’t be good. “What’d they do with her?” he asked, clearing his throat to keep his voice from breaking.
Webster leaned forward. “She was sent to Arizona University as part of a project to identify hundreds of unidentified bodies found along the border. Because her teeth and fingers were removed, they catalogued her remains, took a blood sample to test later if needed, and then had the body cremated and stored in the facility with others who were unidentifiable. I have a picture of her birthmark. If you think you can handle looking, I can ask the university to compare her DNA to yours to get a confirmation. It could take months, but at least then you’ll know for sure.”
Calder blinked, trying to process Webster’s words, as he nodded in some attempt to prove he was listening. He was. He’d comprehended what the other man said, even as he tried to fight the urge to vomit. Somebody had taken his sister’s teeth and fingers and then thrown her away like garbage. It seemed incomprehensible, even after his years working with human trafficking. He’d been right. Elizer had made his sister one of his girls. The E branded into her skin proved it. But, if this was his sister, she could have never been the girl in the picture. She was dead long before Calder had even made it onto the task force.