"I haven't had a chance to check the clothes yet," I said.
He was frowning. "I know. I just wanted to tell you that since we have a few hours until the shuttle arrives, we should probably try to get some rest if we can."
His words were dry and fairly clipped. He wasn't making eye contact with me anymore, which was a little strange. I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
'That sounds like a good idea," I said, and turned away from him.
"Kira…"
I turned back. He climbed up the rest of the stairs until he was standing next to me in the hallway on the second floor. I waited for him to say something else.
He didn't.
"What is it?" I prompted.
His throat worked as he swallowed. He studied a small picture of a lake and an overhang of trees on the wall over my shoulder. "Will you see the scientist that Jonathan mentioned when you get to Offworld?"
"Yeah, I think so. I mean, sure I will. I want somebody to help me with my abilities. All my life I never even realized anybody else was experiencing similar things to what I did. I thought I was some sort of a freak."
"You're not a freak."
'Thanks for the vote of confidence." I smiled weakly. "And what about you? Now that you don't have to have me tagging along with you everywhere you go, what are your plans?"
"That's a very good question. I'm going to wait for news about my brother, and after that…" He shook his head. "I guess I'll have to see where life will take me."
I nodded and pushed away the sadness that I'd probably never see him again. "Well, I wish you luck."
There was silence for a moment, and I began to feel very awkward, and at a loss for words. I didn't want to say anything I might regret. He'd moved to block my way to the back rooms, where I assumed the clothes might be.
I eyed him uneasily. "Can I get past you or do I need to pay a toll?"
His lips curled. "Of course."
But he didn't move.
"Urn, hello?" I said. 'The moving-out-of-my-way thing we talked about? We do have four hours, but time is fleeting."
He snorted softly and looked up at me, finally capturing me in his gaze. "It's going to be a little strange."
I bit my bottom lip. "What's going to be strange?"
"Not having you around anymore."
My heart began to pound faster. "I thought you'd be glad to finally get the hell away from me."
"Glad isn't exactly what I'm feeling right now."
He was acting so strangely, I didn't know what to make of it.
I took a deep breath. "What are you feeling?"
He shrugged and looked away again. "Forget it. I know the past couple of days have been really rough for you, Kira. To say the least. Getting stuck with a guy like me isn't exactly a picnic, even on a good day. Don't worry; just a few more hours and we don't have to be together anymore."
I touched his face and forced him to look at me.
"But we're together right now," I said, and slid my fingers into his dark hair.
He studied me warily for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to make of that last comment. Then he closed the remaining distance between us and crushed his mouth against mine in a hard, deep kiss that made me gasp against his lips from the sheer force of it. He pressed me up against the wall, and the picture of the lake went crashing to the floor.
He ate at my mouth, devouring it, sliding his tongue between my lips.
All of the stress, panic, fear that I'd felt over the last two days parted to make way for the single-minded passion I felt for the man in front of me. If this was going to be the last time I got to touch him, to kiss him, before we got on the shuttle, then I damn well had to make it worthwhile. I didn't want him to forget me.
At that thought, my heart ached. I hadn't known Rogan a few days ago. He hadn't been a part of my life. Now he'd managed to become the most important part. The thought both scared me and thrilled me. I had thought I was dead inside, but he'd managed to prove that that wasn't true. He made me remember that I was alive.
With a growl I felt against my mouth, he moved to kiss me down the side of my neck to my collarbone. My hands were on his back, pulling him closer to me, bringing his face back against mine, and I kissed him.
I felt as if I couldn't get enough of him, his taste, his smell, the feel of his body pressing into me. Nothing could stop the flood of desire I felt for him. There was just this moment. Just Rogan and me, and nobody else in the world existed.
Suddenly he broke off the kiss roughly, stared into my eyes for a moment, and ran his thumb along my bottom lip, which now felt swollen and very tender.
"Do you want me to stop?" he asked.
I could barely speak, so all I said was, "No. Don't stop."
He drew closer and whispered against my lips, "I'm very glad to hear it."
I thought he'd kiss me again, but instead he sank to his knees in front of me, and I felt his hot breath against my bare thighs. He didn't say anything else and was totally silent as he slid his hands under my short black skirt, catching his fingers at the sides of my game-provided black thong. Then he tore it off.
He parted me with his hands, and I gasped out loud as I felt his mouth and tongue on me. I arched against the wall and tangled my fingers into his hair, trying not to pass out from the intense pleasure.
Stars exploded behind my closed eyelids.
"Rogan …" I moaned his name. After another minute I screamed as an orgasm ripped through me and shattered my world completely.
He rose slowly to his feet and captured my mouth again in another rough kiss that swept through my senses and made my body shake with need. I felt weak and had to cling to him to stay on my feet. What was left of my thong twisted around my ankles, and I clumsily stepped out of it.
"Kira," he managed, and my name was harsh, an almost guttural sound whispered against my lips. "Kira, I want you so much."
I felt his hands on my breasts, his thumbs sliding roughly against my hard nipples, which were very visible through the thin fabric of my low-cut black Countdown top.
I couldn't speak, just nodded in agreement. Nothing mattered to me anymore except his hands, his mouth, and the feel of his hard cock rubbing against my thigh.
He let go of me briefly to fumble at the front of his black pants. Then he pressed me back more firmly against the wall and lifted my right leg up over his thigh. I felt him against me-hard and thick-and then with a deep thrust he was inside of me, driving his length in and out, in and out….
I clung to him, moaning his name over and over as he took me against the wall of the safe house-holding him tightly, my hands in his hair, on his shoulders, clutching at his back as he kissed me over and over and over, and I knew then that I never wanted to let him go.
****
I figured that finding a new outfit could wait for a while. What can I say? I was a bit distracted. For two or three hours.
My lips felt bruised. For that matter so did the rest of my body-but in a very good way this time. I peeked at Rogan from behind a pillow. Yes, we'd actually found our way into a bedroom eventually.
He grinned at me. "Like I said before, the best postprison piece of ass in the city."
I whacked him with the pillow. "That's so funny. You should be a comedian."
He grabbed the pillow and threw it to the side and then pinned me down to the bed. I looked up at him. He stroked back from my eyes the hair that had fallen onto my face. "What am I going to do with you, Kira Jordan?"
I smiled. "Well, you haven't been doing badly so far. I would have to vote for more of the same, please."
He kissed me slowly. We'd progressed from fast and hard to slow and steady and everything in between. He trailed his tongue up my throat and along my jaw line until he came to my ear.
"We'd better get ready to catch the shuttle."
My smile widened. "My, how time flies when you're busy fucking your brains out."
"Such a sweet talker," he murmured. "Even if
it wasn't time to catch the shuttle, I'm completely exhausted. You're a lot younger than me, you know."
"I'm almost twenty-three." I frowned. "Now that you mention it, I guess I am. How old are you? Almost thirty?" I made a face. "I think many of the things you just did to me are against the law."
"What I just did to you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Sweetheart, I now have scratches where scratches should never be."
I inspected my fingernails. "Weapons of mass destruction, at your service."
He leaned over and kissed me again. I could get very used to the way Rogan kissed me: slow and precise and warm and firm. His mouth made my toes curl. I'd definitely developed a Kerometh-like addiction to the man's lips in record time.
"Get dressed," he said.
"Yes, sir." I got up on my side of the bed and walked over to the wardrobe. I slid open the door and inspected the clothes inside. "I guess Jonathan never planned on a woman using the safehouse. These are all men's clothes."
"You see anything in there for me?"
I threw him a pair of jeans and a dark green T-shirt. He could still wear the black boots he already had. I took a pair of dark blue pants that were in the smallest size possible and slipped them on. They were still very loose around the waist, so I grabbed a belt, which helped a bit. On top I chose a long-sleeved light blue shirt, which I tucked into the pants.
I turned around.
"Looks good to me," Rogan said.
"Not exactly high fashion, but I've worn worse." I slid on my old black combat boots again. They'd do for now. "How much time do we have?"
He glanced at the digital clock that was next to his side of the bed. "Forty-five minutes."
Just then I heard a slamming sound from downstairs. I froze. Rogan didn't waste any time. He grabbed the gun he'd placed on the bedside table, and we were out of the room in a flash.
We turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs to see that Jonathan had just entered the house and stood by the sink in the kitchen.
I let out a long breath. "Jonathan, thank God it's only you."
He didn't say anything. The lights were off in the kitchen, and Rogan tapped the wall to turn them on.
I gasped. Jonathan looked terrible. His face was as white as snow and damp with perspiration. The skin around his left eye was dark purple, the white of it filled with red. He clutched at his upper chest with his right hand and supported himself against the counter with his other.
"What the hell happened?" Rogan demanded, coming to his side.
Jonathan shook his head. "There's no time. I learned that the shuttle would be early and had to tell you. You must leave now … you have only minutes. Gareth and the others-they know…. They're … they're coming for you…."
"What? They know about this place? Did you tell them?"
"They know that I… that I helped you." He backed up until he was against the kitchen counter. "They've been suspicious ever since I gave you the antidote. They think I helped you escape."
He slid down to sit awkwardly on the floor.
"What did they do to you?" My heart was banging painfully against my ribs. "What can we do to help?"
He gave me a very weak smile. "Just be safe."
Then his expression stilled and his eyes glazed over. His hand dropped away from his chest to reveal a large, bloody wound.
Rogan dropped down beside him and pressed two fingers to Jonathan's throat. He looked up at me grimly. "He's dead."
My eyes filled with hot tears that spilled immediately to my cheeks. "What? He can't be dead!"
His expression was stony, his jaw tense. "They killed him. Dammit to hell." He leaned forward and closed Jonathan's eyes, and then got to his feet. "We need to leave right now."
I shook my head. I didn't want to believe it, but it was true. Jonathan was dead. He was the only one who had helped us. The only one who cared enough … and they killed him because he helped us. I tried to swallow but my throat was too dry.
Rogan's hand closed around my upper arm and he pulled me along with him out of the kitchen. Then I heard banging on the front door. Someone, or a lot of someones, was trying to get in. They were from The Countdown. They were trying to get in and to get me and Rogan and take us back or kill us or-
"Kira, come on," Rogan urged, and I shook my head, trying to clear it enough to put one foot in front of the other. We slipped out the back door just as I heard the splintering of the red door behind us. The back of the safe house looked out on a backyard. Beyond a small fence was a set of train tracks.
A train was stopped there, and my heart lurched at the sight of it.
'That's the shuttle," Rogan shouted. "Come on: we have to hurry."
Why was it early? Maybe they changed their schedules at their whim. How did they even know where to stop? At first glance it didn't look any different from a normal train on the line that crossed the country, but it was different. It was here just for us.
A white-haired man reached out to me from the side of the shuttle. "Do you have a ticket?"
I nodded and showed him the ticket Jonathan gave me, then wiped at my tearstained cheeks with the back of my hand. He eyed the ticket, then eyed me. If he saw anything strange or suspicious, either he didn't show it or he didn't care.
"Welcome aboard," he said.
I climbed up on the shuttle and turned around to look at Rogan.
"Ticket?" the man asked Rogan.
Rogan was looking back at the house.
"Rogan!" I tried to get his attention. He turned slowly to look up at me, and I reached my hand out to him. "Come on, there isn't any time. They're coming."
He rubbed his lips together. "I know."
The man frowned down at him. 'The shuttle's leaving, sir. On or off?"
Rogan didn't tear his gaze from mine. "I'm sorry, Kira. I can't go with you. Now that Jonathan's gone I have to stay. My … my brother. I can't just leave him behind, knowing what I now know."
I felt panic clawing at my chest. "What? No, you have to get on this shuttle right now. We can think about what to do later, when we're somewhere safe. Those men-"
"Those men are being controlled by something evil that needs to be stopped." His expression was strained. "I'm sorry, Kira. I want to come with you, but I can't leave. I have to stop him."
The shuttle let out a sharp whistle. I felt frantic. No. We were on the shuttle. It was here. It was about to leave to take us somewhere we'd be safe. My dream come true of starting a fresh new life, finally, after all these years.
But of course he was right.
"I need to go now," Rogan said, still staring into my eyes. "Please don't be mad."
"Mad?" I managed. "Mad doesn't even begin to cover it, Rogan Ellis."
I jumped off the shuttle. God help me.
"I can't wait any longer, miss," the man said.
I turned to look at him grimly. "I understand."
He nodded and blew a whistle. The shuttle began pulling away from where we stood.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Rogan growled. "You were on the shuttle. You were leaving."
"I know. And now I'm off the shuttle and I'm staying." I clenched my jaw. "Now, are you going to stare at me all day, or are we going to get the hell out of here before those white-coat-wearing freaks figure out where the back door is?"
He chanced a glance back at the safe house and then looked at the departing shuttle.
"That was a stupid decision, Kira." His voice caught on my name. "Dammit."
I sighed. "You're probably very right."
'There's no guarantee you'll be able to find another shuttle."
"Well, that's just the chance I'm going to have to take." I glared at him. "What, do you need a literal countdown all the time to get your ass in gear, or what? Let's go!"
His arms were crossed in front of him, his gun tucked into the waist of his new jeans, and he started walking along the outer line of the fence. We didn't say another word until we found an opening and were able to dart t
hrough a neighboring yard and then along a side street that took us back out onto Paragon Avenue. A cool wind had picked up, and it blew my dark hair around my shoulders as we emerged on the populated street.
"They're going to be looking for us," Rogan said.
"Obviously. So what's the plan?"
"The plan is to get you somewhere safe, and then I'm going to the location on the business card Jonathan gave me to see if it gives me any answers. Shit, I just wish Jonathan had told me more. Stubborn bastard." His expression was shadowed with anger and grief.
"You want me to go somewhere safe?" I repeated.
"That's right."
'Think again. I got off that shuttle for one reason and one reason only, and that's to help you stop the virus and save Gareth."
He laughed at that.
I narrowed my eyes. "What's so damn funny?"
"Save him?" he repeated. "Actually, my plan is to kill him."
"What?"
"You heard me. Jonathan said it himself. Gareth begged for Jonathan to kill him when he had the chance. It's the only way to put him out of his misery and to get rid of the virus once and for all before it goes through with its plans to take The Countdown even wider than it already is." His throat worked as he swallowed. "It's the only way."
I shook my head. "There has to be another way."
His gaze tracked sideways to me as we hurried along the crowded sidewalk. We walked past the homeless man, and I noticed there were a few coins in front of him now.
"Oh? And please tell me, being as you're so technically savvy."
I gave him a look. "Sarcasm is not terribly appreciated right now. I don't know anything about computers or viruses or anything, but I can't believe the only option is to kill him."
He hissed a breath out between his teeth. "Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
"You're not a murderer."
"I killed two men in prison."
"Only because you had to. But this is your own brother."
He glared at me again, and his eyes were shiny with emotion. 'This is difficult, Kira. Don't think it isn't. Why didn't you stay on that shuttle? Then at least I'd know you were safe. Dammit. Why did you have to jump off?"
Because I love you.
But I was too much of a wimp to say that out loud. "Because you need my help. I'm in this just as much as you are, you know. And just because I make it to Offworld doesn't mean that Gareth's men will stop looking for me. After all, I know all about the real motive behind his little game. Can you promise me that they won't look for me? That they won't try to kill me no matter where I am?"
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