Sinful Solace

by Garnell Wallace

  Suddenly he went still. He muttered an expletive just before he shot his release into her. As his body shuddered above her, Jessica was wracked by another powerful orgasm. Finally, Kane slumped on top of her. Jessica wrapped her arms and legs around him. At that moment, she knew with a fierce certainty that she’d never love anyone as much as she loved Kane.

  ****

  Kane stared down at Jessica asleep in his big bed while the morning sun highlighted the gold in her thick hair. He wanted to crawl back into bed with her, but he had a job to do. Ridding the world of Graham Major would make it better for Jessica. He realized that he cared a lot about making the world better for her. She was so innocent in so many ways, and yet she was a fiend in bed. Her fresh outlook on everything had breathed new life into him. That life now flowed through him along with the sexual energy he’d been storing up for a week. He now felt invincible. He bent down and kissed Jessica.

  His body stiffened. Something was wrong. She was too still, and he couldn’t feel her breath. His body went cold and his last image if Marie flashed in his mind. He grabbed Jessica’s arms and shook her.

  “Jessica, wake up!”

  When she didn’t stir, Kane knew he’d taken her too far. His heart dropped to his stomach. Had he just killed her? He refused to accept that or to let her die. He placed his mouth over hers and blew the same life force she’d given him back into her body in a desperate attempt to save her. He found himself praying for the first time in his life, though God must not have held that against him because suddenly Jessica coughed and sputtered, and her eyes flew open.

  She stared up at him in fear and bewilderment. “What happened?”

  Kane sank to the floor from the weight of emotions, many of which he didn’t understand. He’d almost killed her. Guilt tore through him and he focused on it because the protectiveness and love, yes love, he also felt scared the hell out of him.

  He reached up and caressed Jessica’s head. “I almost lost you.”

  She took his hand and kissed it. “On the contrary. In so many ways, you’ve given me life.” She smiled and closed her eyes.

  Kane stood up. He was torn between staying with Jessica and going after Graham. He’d already lost so much energy to revive Jessica. He had to use the rest of it to do his job because he would never feed on her again to that extent. He called Fiona to stay with Jessica, and when he was sure that she was just sleeping and not unconscious, he left with half the energy and half the confidence he’d had before.

  The first thing he did was meet with Creed and Liam at The Rose hotel. They had to take Graham before he left for the office.

  “I don’t like you going in there alone,” Liam told him. “There are so many things that can go wrong.”

  “I’ve taken all that into account, and I still prefer to go alone. You’re a SEAL, but you’re not indestructible. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

  Liam puffed out his chest. “No one has to worry about me.”

  “You just can’t stand to not get in a fight,” Creed told Liam. “I’m a businessman, not a fighter, though I will torture that son of a bitch when you bring him to us.”

  “That’s when you’ll have your fun,” Kane told Liam. “Right now, this is a party of one.”

  “I will be on the outskirts,” Liam insisted. “I will keep back, but if I feel things are going south, I will jump in. I wasn’t trained just to sit back and let others risk their lives. I wanted to help take down Miguel and his men; however, that was too big of an operation. Graham is one man with a handful of guards.”

  Kane wasn’t in the mood to argue. “Fine. I just hope I won’t have to rescue you.” He got up.

  “I’ve secured the clean-up crew,” Liam said. “They’ll be waiting for my call.” He reached into his knapsack and pulled out a map which he spread open across Creed’s desk. “Graham’s house is here on the far edges of town and you’ll have to ramble through a few miles of forest to get to it. I’m sure he has cameras everywhere, so they’ll see you before you even reach the house.”

  “I’ll take down anyone in my way,” Kane told him.

  Liam nodded. “When you get Graham, head back in the same direction and Creed will be at the edge of the forest with the jeep. If I’m not there yet, leave.”

  “Okay, let’s get this party started,” Kane said. He was hyped up and ready for action.

  Dressed in army fatigues, the three men piled into an old unregistered jeep they’d bought at a used car lot in North Carolina and headed out of town. Kane and Liam got out at the entrance to the woods and then trekked about a mile in. Liam stayed while Kane continued towards the house armed with heavy-duty binoculars and a .45 Magnum. Graham lived in a modern monstrosity, which was all angles and hard lines surrounded by a high wall with barbed wires and cameras on top.

  As he walked the rest of the way, Kane pushed all the energy he’d collected from Jessica outward. It flowed out of his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes and surrounded his entire body. He noticed two guards when he was about a foot away from the house. They pointed their guns at him, but he continued walking.

  The first bullet bounced off his shield and was quickly followed by another. They kept firing at him, and the shells kept bouncing off. Two other guards ran outside and started firing. Kane whipped out his gun and shot each of them in the leg.

  One of them had left the front door open. He rushed inside and darted in and out of spacious rooms looking for Graham, who must’ve hidden when he heard gunshots. From the layout they’d obtained from town planning, Kane knew exactly where the basement was. He headed in the opposite direction. A man like Graham would have a secret panic room that wasn’t on his house plan.

  Kane went out to the backyard and rushed across to the boathouse. He kicked the door open and started running his hands along the wall in search of some kind of hidden mechanism. He found a little knob halfway along the back wall, and when he pushed against it, a section of the wall pivoted inward.

  A bullet flew out of the room and bounced off the shield. Kane stepped into the room where he found Graham crouched in the corner with two guards who spewed bullets at him. He wounded them as he had the others and then smiled at Graham. “We’re going to have so much fun with you.”

  Graham put up a good effort; however, he was no match for a demon. Kane dragged him by his hair out of the boathouse and along the concrete floors of the house and down the steps and through the woods. Liam rushed out of the trees to meet them, and they each took one of Graham’s legs and dragged him out of the forest to where Creed was waiting. They threw him in the trunk of the jeep and sped off down to the pier.

  Kane had arranged for Lauren to meet them and to drive the jeep out of town, and Creed’s private yacht was waiting to take them to the key where Creed had taken Jillian. They would get as much information out of Graham before they killed him. Kane wanted to prolong the process as much as possible. A man like Graham Major had a lot to pay for. There would be a massive search and investigation after he came up missing. Kane did not doubt that they would never find a piece of him. The cleaners were now going through Graham’s house, removing every scrap of security footage and the bodies of his guards. They would also wipe the place down, leaving no trace of any of them.

  As they set out from the bay, Liam stared at Kane’s chest. “You’ve been shot, man.”

  Kane looked down and was shocked to see blood oozing out from the left side. Feeding Jessica had weakened him, though he’d been so hopped up on adrenaline, he hadn’t even noticed that he’d been shot. The pain he now felt was bearable, and he would tolerate it until Graham had spilled his guts, both literally and figuratively. Then he could go back to Jessica, who he realized, he just couldn’t wait to see again.

  ****

  Jessica checked her phone for the hundredth time. It’d been forty-eight hours since Kane had left and only two since he’d last checked in with her. It felt like two days, especially since she knew he was hiding something
from her. Six hours later, he walked through the door, and Jessica jumped on him. She rained kisses over his face, and amidst the kisses, the words “I love you,” slipped out. She looked up at Kane, expecting him to close up. Instead of rejecting her, he smiled.

  “I love you too.”

  It was only when they’d stripped down in his bedroom did Jessica notice the bandage over his chest. She gasped. “What happened?”

  Kane smiled. “I’m okay, baby.”

  “But I thought the shield was supposed to protect you.”

  Kane kissed her. “It did. I’m here, ready to love you and show you the world.”

  Jessica frowned. “What happened to Graham?”

  “He’s food for fish now. The sad thing is that there are a lot of people like him. We got a lot of information out of him, and this rabbit hole goes deeper than I thought. Luckily the paramilitary group I belong to has lots of men to take them all down.” His mouth set in a firm line. “We will use all our resources to find them because some people just need to die.”

  Jessica pulled him towards the bed. “You will find them. No more talk about death for now. Let’s talk about life and love and Paris in the summertime.”

  “Or we can just not talk at all.” Kane fell with her onto the bed.

  Jessica giggled. She’d never been so happy. She reached for Kane. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”