I was already over the edge, my end just pushed me further and sent me into the arms of ecstasy. It severed me in two. Snapping me in half and then into several little pieces.
All pieces of me that luxuriated with pleasure.
God… my skin…
Fire…
My skin…it was on fire and the heat made me lightheaded.
Xander ran a hand over my back, down the curve and lingered there. The touch was so gentle and in contrast to how we’d been just seconds ago.
He pulled out of me and pulled me into his chest, flush against him, our bodies wet with sweat. I turned into the corded muscles of his chest but he cupped my face and gazed into my eyes.
“Be mine Jia… when this is over. Please be mine.” His eyes lightened now, another contrast to the heat that had filled them.
“I was always yours Xander Cage,” I replied.
That made him smile. “Thank you, I’m glad to hear it because you had me at hello.”
Chapter Fifty
Xander
A knock sounded on the door. It was a light tap.
It woke me up but realistically I should have been awake already. Although my body felt stronger, I was still suffering from the effects of the torture.
The tap sounded again, more cautious this time.
It was Frankie. He opened the door and poked his head inside.
“It’s three fifteen. Didn’t know if you wanted to get up early and get something to eat,” he said.
“No, I’m still full from the ten course meal your mom gave me.” I smiled groggily, straightening up and focusing on him. My movement made Jia wake too.
He chuckled when he saw her. “That’s alright man. I’m gonna go get the truck ready.”
“Thanks, I’ll be down soon.”
“Cool.” He tipped his head and left us.
According to my plan we had forty five minutes but honestly the sooner we left, the better. We’d just get to Idaho quicker. It was gonna be one hell of a drive. It would take us the whole day. I counted around fifteen hours with stops for breaks. I knew I’d feel better once we got out of state.
Jia straightened up and moved to kiss me but pulled back.
“What? No.” I reached for her.
“I am not kissing you with morning breath. Ughh, and must you look so gorgeous. You’re supposed to be injured. At least look like it. I look like I woke up in a barn.”
I didn’t know what she was saying to me, she was the one who looked gorgeous with that platinum blond hair cascading down her shoulders in long graceful waves. When she tried to slip off the bed I pulled her back and planted a kiss on her lips.
“You have gorgeous honey breath,” I told her, loving the feel of her in my arms. “And you look sexy, just-woke-up-in-my-arms sexy.”
I could easily get used to this. Definitely get used to it.
Not now though.
We had things to do.
She backed away and looked me over. “How are you feeling? Truly. I shouldn’t have come in here. I should have allowed you to sleep.”
I shook my head at her. Having her the two times I did wasn’t something I’d regret. “I’m okay. I’m not a hundred percent but I’m okay.”
That was part truth. I was probably around sixty percent myself and would have preferred to be a hundred percent me for this venture into uncertainty. I trusted my body and wasn’t used to this near useless version of me.
“I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t, I’m a lot better.”
“Xander, I wished we could have taken you to a hospital. I would feel better if you had some kind of scan.”
“There’s no time for that. I’m gonna have to be as okay as I can be, but I promise I’ll go as soon as I can.”
“You’d better, I’m not going to go through so much to lose you to something I should have taken better heed of.”
It was nice to have her care about me the way she did. I hadn’t had that in a very long time.
“Are you okay with today?”
“I’m scared. I’m just sitting on edge waiting for something to happen. It’s not nice to feel like that. I wish we had some idea of what’s going on with my father. We don’t though. He’ll be looking for me, Xander. He has access to stuff. Things beyond my imagination.”
That was what concerned me. “Don’t worry. We just keep moving. Where we’re going we should be safe.” We would be. Jack was Jack but he had contacts too and I supposed I had Ethan. I definitely had Wes. I just needed to be on my turf. That was it, my turf. If something happened there then I knew I’d be able to handle it.
“Jack sounds nice.”
I’d talked a little more about him last night. It was not only going to be strange to see him because according to him I was presumed dead and had died five years ago, but I was going to be bringing a woman to the house that I was interested in. To him that person for me had been his daughter, Claire.
It was going to be a very awkward reunion. One that had to take place though.
“He’s nice.”
She nodded. “Okay, let’s… do this.”
Let’s do this.
I would have definitely felt better though if I’d had my full strength.
I planned it out well.
Frankie readied the truck and we left before four. It was good to get as far as we could under the darkness.
By five we were just going by Coyote Springs. The road had been clear and we covered a lot of miles in the space between, putting us ahead of the traffic.
Now it seemed like we were approaching it.
Frankie glanced at the rearview mirror but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at something I couldn’t see. Something on the road. Behind us.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Car and a bike. They been following us, I’m sure of it. Picked ‘em up about half an hour ago. They followed even when I took the shortcut at Dry Lake,” Frankie answered.
His eyes darted between the road ahead and the mirror.
Jia straightened up, worry instantly filled her face.
I looked behind me and gazed out the back window to try and find the car and bike.
“It’s the black Kawasaki and the black Porsche,” Frankie clarified.
I saw them. They were a few cars back. Just from looking I couldn’t tell if they were actually following, but if Frankie thought they were then I wouldn’t doubt him. He would have been paying more attention to something like that.
Jia looked too. “I can’t tell if it’s one of Pa’s people,” she stated.
I just couldn’t tell.
“I’m gonna divert down Wells. There’s no reason for them to turn off with us. If they do then I think it’s safe to say we’ve been found.” Frankie sped up a little more.
“What are we going to do?” Jia asked.
“We can’t get the cops on our ass. That would not be good. I’d really hoped we wouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. The number plates must have popped up on the radar.”
“How far out will Wells put us?” I asked. I didn’t know the roads here very well. Just the central routes I’d taken over the last month.
“Completely off, but it’s that or stay on Route 93 for longer than we have to, and if they start shooting…” He quirked a brow.
That would not be good. It wasn’t all that busy but it would get that way soon. Shooting meant civilians could get caught up and shit, it meant us being dead, dead, dead.
“Gotcha.”
“There’s a gun under your seat.” Frankie glanced over his shoulder. I reached down and pulled out an impressive looking shotgun. I had to say that Frankie most assuredly didn’t pack light. He’d packed the ammo that could get the job done with one hit.
“Got it,” I told him, with a firm nod.
He nodded back then glanced at Jia. “Jia baby girl keep your head down. Please, and buckle up. This could get real nasty.”
While Jia strapped herself in an
d tightened the belt to more than comfortable, Frankie sped up even more.
I looked behind us and damn it to fuck, the bike and car sped up too.
It was enough for me to agree on them following us for sure. The other surety was them turning too when we turned off the road to Wells.
“We definitely got company,” I shouted.
Thank God the road ahead was clear. No after five traffic yet. This road looked like it was taking us back to desert land.
Jesus Christ I didn’t know why I’d bothered to hope this part could run smoothly. Of course it wouldn’t, it made me wonder about alternative routes, providing we made it out of this.
Fuck they were speeding up when we sped up and gaining on us. The bike was very close.
Frankie accelerated and pulled out a revolver from his jacket pocket. Jia put her head down when she saw that and curled next to me. I hated putting her in danger.
Again.
The biker pulled a gun from his backpack and fired a shot. It hit the back of the car and jerked us.
That lanced me up for action. I’d get this motherfucker before he got the chance to do that again. I got to my knees, lowered the window and became the daredevil I was by sticking my head out.
Frankie was a real demon on the road and his brain seemed synced to mine. He swerved across the road to give me a direct line of passage with the biker who was getting ready to shoot our wheels off.
When he saw the shotgun aiming at him though he switched up, but not fast enough. One shot and I took him down. The bullet went straight to his head, blew him backwards off the bike and the bike and him went tumbling over the side of the road.
One down, one car to go and it didn’t look like these guys in the car came to mess around.
I saw a machine gun and pulled my head back in just before they opened fire.
Fuck! They hit us. Jia screamed.
“Frankie try and drive faster if you can! Get as much space between us,” I shouted.
Frankie did as I said putting his gun down so he could focus on driving.
That was best. He’d have to do that while I did the shooting.
More shots were fired and all I could do was hope the wheels stayed intact. Now was not a good time to lose our ride.
There was no good time to lose our ride.
I thought of a plan as I conjured up the image of the men in the car. I was pretty certain I’d seen three men. They’d looked like shadowy figures against the tinted windows and the bright morning sunlight.
On three I’d stick my head out again and aim for the driver. Hitting him would cause their car to swerve off-road and take them out.
One. Two. Three.
I bolted up again, stuck my head out and fired a shot. It echoed and got the car but fuck, it didn’t get the driver. They were still coming for us, still driving to us.
The guy in the passenger seat put his head out again with the machine gun. I fired a shot and missed.
I went back inside the car and Frankie frowned.
“Hold tight guys, let’s get down here. Thousand Spring Creek.” He motioned to our left. There was a thicket of trees in a woodland area, it was perfect.
He bumbled down the road and sped off. Jia screamed again, cowering against the noise, the gun shots, the panic and terror.
The car followed us and started firing shots again.
Jesus if we weren’t careful this could really be it. It could be it.
Frankie sped to the trees and the path became rocky, jagged, bumpy.
Once again I thought of the driver of the Porsche. I had to get him.
On three, I moved and fired one shot, growling as I did so.
It got him.
It got them and the car jerked up on the path then smashed into a tree.
It didn’t matter who else got taken out in the car, we lost them.
“You guys okay?” I asked both of them but I checked Jia.
She was shaking but she was okay.
“I’m fine.”
I looked to Frankie and saw his arm was covered with blood. Fuck, he’d been hit.
“Frankie where’d they get you?”
“It’s just my arm. We need to keep going.”
“I’ll drive,” Jia offered. “Stop the truck. I’ll drive.”
“I should drive,” I cut in.
She shook her head. “No, I can’t do what you do and I can’t curl up and hide. I can help. Me on the wheel means you and Frankie can shoot if necessary. Frankie needs a bandage.”
I liked her way of thinking. What I didn’t like was the fact that if we had a repeat of just now she wouldn’t be able to keep her head down.
She reached forward and touched my face. “I’ll be okay. I will,” she assured me.
I nodded and looked to Frankie. “Stop the truck Frankie and get back here.”
He pulled the truck to a stop and he and Jia switched.
When she started driving down the path, I looked over Frankie’s wound which looked bad. I grabbed one of the t-shirts his mother had given us and bandaged his arm with it, hoping the bleeding would stop.
“I’m good, kid. Don’t worry about me. It just hurts like a son of a bitch.” He chuckled. I’d only known a few people like him, who could take a bullet and act like it was a fucking scratch.
“You sure Frankie? We should get you to the hospital.”
“Kid, we can’t stop for that. This just got next level bad. We gotta lose the truck. Aside from my plates giving us away and acting like a homing beacon, we can’t ride around all day with a bullet riddled truck. People will notice.” He chuckled deep and hearty, as if he was fine. Although I could see he was in pain, just taking it really well. He was right though. We had to lose the truck.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I know a guy who can give us a ride. We just have to hope we don’t have any more surprises along the way,” he answered then looked to Jia. “Princess, switch the route on the GPS to Park Valley.”
Jia did as he said.
We got to Park Valley two hours later and saw Frankie’s contact.
I said a silent prayer of thanks that we didn’t get any more surprises on the damn way. I didn’t know if I could take it. The worry over Jia would get me and probably give me a heart attack.
We got into a Range Rover and I decided to take over driving.
With the new truck I had more assurance that we would be able to get to Idaho without any more hassle. Unless Giovanni had some wicked bad high tech satellite imaging recognition that could pick out our faces if we got caught driving by one of the cameras on the highway.
It was some sort of NASA tech I’d heard about and I really hoped that was just my imagination running wild and not reality.
I could see it happening though. He was crazy enough and powerful enough to have that type of asset. Jia was what he wanted. His daughter.
The shootout earlier made me wonder though if he didn’t care whether he got her back dead or alive. The men shooting weren’t exactly careful, but then you couldn’t really be careful in a scenario like that, you could only be as careful as you could be.
As soon as we left Park Valley we diverted towards Salt Lake City.
I thought it would be a good place to stop for a while. By the time we reached it, we’d already been on the road for ten hours with the delay in stopping over at Park Valley and of course the shootout. I’d been hoping that we would have gotten closer to our destination but it was okay.
While we were there we got some bandages for Frankie. I would have preferred to have gone to the walk-in medical center but it would be a little difficult to explain a bullet wound.
My plan was Jack. He’d be able to look at it.
We stopped in Salt Lake City for about six hours and we all just slept in the truck.
Frankie and I alternated between keeping watch for two hours each while the other got some sleep. We set off early morning again and headed to Boise, Idaho.
Just like in my younger days, the air was the first thing I noticed to change. It was fresh and had that mountain spring cleanliness to it.
That was the first thing that I’d noticed when Jack brought me here to live. Living in Chicago for most of my life I tended to notice things like that. City to Country.
Jack was originally from Montana; his family had a farm there so he knew exactly what I meant when I’d commented on it, he really did. I thought at the time that he appreciated that I noticed.
It was here that I’d decided I wanted to become a marine and go on some of the types of adventures he went on.
As I drove over the State line and saw the Welcome to Idaho sign, memories came flooding back into my mind.
All of it from start to finish. Or rather where I’d decided it should end.
I could have come back before now. I should have. It would have been right. I just couldn’t face Jack. I promised I’d take care of Claire and I wasn’t able to stop her from dying.
From being killed.
I felt like a failure and a failure of the worst kind. The kind that was seeking justice and hadn’t found it. Five long years and I hadn’t been able to bring Balthazar down to his knees and chop off his damn head for what he’d done.
Jia reached across and tapped my hand, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I’d almost forgotten she was next to me. Frankie was in the back watching the scenery change as we rode by.
“You okay?” she asked. “You look worried.”
“I am.”
She knew why I’d be worried. “Don’t be, I think he’ll be more than happy to see you.”
“I really hope so.”
I was about to find out.
I turned down North Cartwright Road that led to Hidden Springs. Jack lived off there in a plantation style house.
Two minutes down the road and I could see it.
It was five thirty. The sun was bright already but still held that subtle presence of peeking through to start the new day.
If I knew Jack, he would be up already tending to the horses.
The house I’d loved so much came into view and I turned down the long drive, passing the fields and the lake.
Game of Love : A Mafia Romance Page 41