Survive By The Team (Team Fear Book 3)

by Cindy Skaggs

  Mandi peeked over her shoulder. She would have quickly looked away, but Fowler gave her a wave. “What are you still doing here?”

  Startled by the question, she looked around to see most of the computers empty. The clock said it was after midnight. “Wow, I didn’t realize it was so late. I guess I was waiting for someone to call it a night.”

  “Craft, Rose, and Ryder are next door,” Stills said, nodding toward the briefing room.

  “They probably won’t get much sleep tonight,” Fowler added. “But you should get some sleep while you can.”

  Mandi nodded before powering down the computer. Cautiously, she approached Stills. “I’ll take her off your hands.”

  “I got her.” He stood with Ellie in his arms.

  “No.” Mandi shook her head. “I’ve been carrying her since she was born. I don’t need your help.”

  Fowler hit the door to the briefing room like he was in a race. “I’ll let you two...” He disappeared and closed the door behind him. Asshole.

  “It’s a long trek back through a creepy-ass tunnel. Let me.”

  “I’m not afraid of ghosts,” Mandi insisted. She spoke fast and peered nervously around the empty room. “Janet swears the place is crawling with ghosts, but I think that’s—”

  “Nuts,” Stills offered.

  “Right.” Mandi twisted her hands together. “I really can carry her.”

  He adjusted Ellie to his right and shook out the left hand that had gone numb. Angry tingles shot up his arm. Rather than argue, he led the way down the stairs to the main level where their vehicles were parked in what qualified as the largest indoor garage Stills had ever seen in the private sector. They walked silently down another set of stairs hidden behind a utility closet.

  The tunnel sloped like a gentle hill and sloped back up the other side where it opened into the basement of the house. Due to the angle, he couldn’t see straight from one side to the other. Slasher-movie lights hung down every ten feet or so casting eerie shadows on the wall. The place smelled of dust and decay even though they kept the tunnel so clean and polished that their shoes squeaked and echoed.

  A scream sounded from the bowels of the basement. Mandi stumbled and bumped into Stills. He grabbed her hand to steady her.

  “I heard that the other night.” Her voice quivered. “I thought it was...”

  “A ghost?”

  “My imagination.”

  “Probably the prisoner. I have to say, he’s experiencing the longest detox I’ve seen. Even the company mandated stop in Germany didn’t last this long and they made sure we were completely clean and through withdrawals before they let us fly back to the states.” He shrugged. “He’s been on the drugs longer and it’s hell on his system. Fowler and Rose take turns keeping watch.”

  “Can he get loose?”

  “He’s strapped down to a gurney. Damn thing’s an antique. Rusted metal and leather straps. Straight out of a Hitchcock movie. Fowler said it came with the sanitarium.”

  “That description isn’t comforting.”

  “It held Rose when he’d been dosed, and Rose is a monster.”

  “You told me he was gentle.”

  “He is, until Echo shot him up with something. Don’t worry. The gurney is solid, and if the prisoner managed to break free, he’s still in a cell at the end of a tunnel like this. There are two gates; both require keys. He’s not getting loose.”

  Mandi shivered and squeezed his hand until her nails bit into his skin. “I overheard the guys talking today. Rose and Fowler,” she clarified. “They think he’s legitimately lost his sanity. He might not snap out of it.”

  “I hope they’re wrong. We need this guy to talk.”

  “Maybe if they gave him a partial dose to take the edge off. Maybe then he’d talk.”

  “Not a bad idea. Bring it up with Rose, see what he thinks.”

  They had made it through the tunnel and climbed the first flight of stairs that dropped them into the kitchen pantry. The place was a legitimate maze of strange rooms and corridors. Random stairwells. They hadn’t had much chance to explore, but Stills had a feeling they could spend weeks mapping the place and not find all the hidden rooms. They had an escape route that led from the basement to an old shack a couple miles away. It was one way only so no one could get in from the outside. Janet had shown them the quickest routes out and a few alternates, just in case they needed to run. There were two cars parked and ready to go.

  The Manor was equal parts awesome and creepy. He hoped to hell they didn’t die there. He didn’t want to share the afterlife with a bunch of crazy ghosts.

  When they reached the main house, Mandi released her grip on his hand and led the way up the back steps to their rooms. She opened Ellie’s door and stepped aside so he could put Ellie to bed. The lights were out, but the hall light guided the way to a twin bed in the corner. He brushed the covers aside and gently laid Ellie on the sheet. The little thing didn’t even take up half the bed. She looked so frail in sleep. Small. He slipped off her shoes and tucked a blanket around her. Before he could back away, Ellie blinked her eyes open.

  “Uncle Dean?”

  The soft words hit him hard. He’d never been an uncle before. He didn’t have any siblings. “Yeah?”

  “Smelly Worm didn’t get a bath today.”

  “That’s okay.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Smelly’s adventures kept him out of the mud today. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “I don’t like the dark.”

  “I’ve got it.” Mandi stepped through the adjoining door and flipped on the bathroom light. The brightness made Ellie blink so Mandi partially closed the door so it let in a sliver of light. Then she went to the hall and closed the door, making the room dim but not pitch black.

  Ellie reached out and tucked her tiny hand into his. “Will you stay?”

  “Baby I can’t stay the night.”

  “Just ‘til I fall asleep.” She twisted to look at her aunt. “Both of you? Please.”

  Mandi chewed on her lower lip. “Do you mind?” she asked him.

  “Of course not.”

  “Okay, sweetie, scoot over.” Ellie wiggled to the middle of the bed, giving the adults a sliver of mattress to sit on. She adjusted until she lay on her back and wrapped her arms around a stuffed green worm that he hadn’t noticed earlier. “Now close your eyes.”

  Ellie obeyed her aunt, but a moment later, she peeked her eyes back open. “Uncle Dean?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I like having uncles.” Before he could respond, she continued. “But I love you most.”

  He coughed on his own spit. “I love you, too.” The words came out a whisper.

  She shoved the blanket aside and flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. “Night.” Just as quickly, she lay back down, wrapped her arms around the worm, and closed her eyes. Moments later, she drifted to sleep.

  Mandi stayed where she was, softly stroking Ellie’s hair. Several minutes passed before she lifted her finger to her lips to remind him to be quiet. Like he needed a reminder. That little girl had stunned him speechless. She’d wiggled her way into his heart like that stupid worm Smelly. He blindly followed Mandi through the adjoining bathroom that dumped into her room. The only light was what came through the bathroom door.

  “Thank you for staying,” she whispered. “In the hospital, she was never really alone. I was always there. Danny was when he could get away. They leave lights on for the nurses who are in and out or the kids who are scared. It’s never fully dark, so she can’t sleep unless there’s a light on. Even then, she rarely sleeps through the night.”

  “I’m sorry both of you had to go through that,” he said, keeping his voice low enough to not wake Ellie. Over the past few days, he’d seen flashes of Ellie’s scars, the biggest of which went down her center like she’d been cut in half. Worse than anything the team had experienced. “It’s not right.”

  Mandi shrugged off his concern. “We
learned a long time ago that life’s not fair.” She reached around him and gently closed the bathroom door, leaving the room dark. Her voice lowered to a rough whisper. “Life throws more at you than you can handle, but you do. Handle it, even when you don’t know from minute to minute how you can possibly endure more. And the more keeps coming.”

  She audibly swallowed, the sound chocked with tears. “I thought I’d die when Danny did. I thought I couldn’t watch Ellie endure one more surgery after one more surgery. I thought I’d die in that car wreck or when Echo tried to run us over or when they tracked us to the cabin. But I’m still here.”

  The lack of light heightened his other senses. He smelled her, so close the floral shampoo blended with her natural, outdoorsy scent. Her warmth washed over him and the hair on his arms stood at attention.

  “All I want is to feel alive.” When she spoke, her breath brushed his skin. “Stay?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Mandi hid in the dark. Sleeping with Dean again would lead to heartache, but she wanted one more night. She needed to feel alive.

  He brushed her hair off her face before cupping her cheeks between his large hands. The move sent her heart racing. The way he held her right before they kissed made her feel safe and cocooned. Gently, he brushed his lips over hers. “I thought I’d have to worm my way back into your good graces.”

  “Oh, you will,” she teased. “You can start by kissing me.”

  “With pleasure.” But he moved to his own tempo. The tips of his fingers buried in her hair and his thumbs rubbed her jawline. Tingles spread from his touch, warming her skin. Not seeing him added another layer to the seduction. She felt the warmness of his breath on her neck moments before his lips brushed along the side and down to her collarbone. With slow, careful moves, he kissed over her neck and along her jaw until he captured her lips.

  The firm brush of his lips unleashed something she’d been afraid of her entire life, but tonight, she embraced it. She moved restlessly against his hard body while his lips owned her mouth. When he pressed the tip of his tongue against her lips, she opened for him. He ran the rough edges of his tongue over hers and she mimed the movement.

  He jerked against her.

  They kissed in the dark for long minutes. He surrounded her. His hands were in her hair, on her back, around her waist. He teased her nipples through her clothes, never letting go of her lips.

  “God, what you do to me.”

  He stopped his seductive assault. His breath panted in her ear. “Tell me.”

  Her body clenched at the command.

  The tip of his tongue traced her earlobe before he bit down. “Sugar, tell me. I need it.”

  She shivered. “That right there,” she gasped.

  “This.” He repeated his teasing against her earlobe and the sensitive skin behind.

  “Makes me wet,” she stammered. “You haven’t even touched me, my clothes are still on, and I want to rub against you like a cat in heat.”

  “Do it.”

  Her body went up in flames. She didn’t ask if he was serious, she knew he was. “Last time, when he put your knee between my thighs...”

  “Like this.” He slid one leg between hers and slowly ran it against her cleft.

  She tilted her pelvis into him and dropped her head back. Feeling. All she could do was feel. And burn. “God, yes. Makes me so hot. Flames are shooting over my body.”

  He nipped her other earlobe. “Show me. Ride me.”

  Mandi gripped his shoulders before tentatively gyrating her groin against his thigh. Desire flooded her system. The raw rasp of his jeans against hers vibrated and she spread her thighs wider to make room. Using his big hands, he lifted her higher on his thigh until her feet were off the ground.

  “Ah.” The pressure between her legs built.

  “You’re wet.”

  She nodded.

  “I feel your moist heat through my jeans. Sugar you’re going to feel so good. I can’t wait to get inside you.”

  “Do it.” She repeated his words, but her voice was breathy. Needy. God, she’d beg if she had to. Her hips jerked and moved to slide across his muscled thigh. A long, ropey muscle flexed against her backside.

  “Not yet,” he answered.

  Her hands climbed his shoulders to his neck. The tension in the long muscles there showed he was just as affected and just as hot.

  She continued to slide back and forth over his leg. “What do you want?”

  He kissed her, taking over her mouth and thrusting his tongue to the slow moves of her hips. At the same time, he pushed on her hips so she rode tighter against him. “Come,” he said. “I want to hear you scream.”

  The words put her halfway there and she was still fully dressed. “I don’t know...”

  Rough, he trailed his hands over her body until he gripped her hips and then he rocked her against his hard thigh. “How does that feel?”

  “Hot. So, ah, harder. Harder.” The words blubbered out of her mouth now. She was beyond thought. Beyond words.

  “Your wish.” He gripped her hips, pushing her down as he moved his thigh. He set the rhythm now, moving her faster, rubbing her clit along his muscles with each pass.

  Her head fell back and she gave up all control. He moved her body, his leg hit the right spot, and he owned her. Her body detonated and wave after wave of pleasure washed through her. He slowed when she gasped and held her breath, and then he stopped the moves and held her pressed down on his thigh. The constant pressure sparked another orgasm. Torn apart, completely out of her head and living on the aftershocks, she fell against him. Still fully clothed.

  “Ah, sugar, you’re wet. The moist heat burning through our jeans. I want that squeezing me while you ride my cock.”

  The raw tone nearly sent her into another climax.

  “Take off your clothes. I want to feel what I do to you.”

  He shifted his leg until she dropped to land on unsteady feet. She pushed off her shoes and jeans, shaking and needy. How did he manage that?

  The rasp of his zipper competed with her heavy breathing, and then his jeans hit the floor. A rip as he opened a condom wrapper followed by a breeze that washed over her as he pulled off his shirt. Even though her eyes detected the shadow of him in the dark room, she didn’t see his moves until he yanked her top off. Her bra next. In the dark it was as if they simply vanished.

  Calloused fingers trailed over her body, skimmed her nipples, before teasing lower. A moment later his finger sank between her legs. “So wet.” He rubbed his fingers through her moisture while his mouth made quick work of kissing her senseless. Her legs gave out and he caught her. Moved her to the bed while wet, plundering kisses continued to steal her breath, her very thoughts in turmoil.

  Nips and kisses trailed down her body.

  Stills paused above her midsection, surprised to feel the bite of metal near her bellybutton. Intrigued, he rimmed his tongue over a tiny metal oval. “Surprise, surprise.” Petite Mandi Gault had a bellybutton ring.

  Beneath him, Mandi went stiff, tension radiating off her heated skin. “I got it the weekend Danny showed me the papers naming me guardian.”

  Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. He kissed lower to nip at her hipbone. “You wanted to be a rebel.” That’s why she’d responded to him so easily. She’d even called him a rebel with a cause. “I can see it now. Black leather jacket. Kickass boots. Tight jeans.” His dick flexed at the image he painted.

  Mandi laughed. “I don’t know about that. I just wanted to be me.”

  And then some asswipe with a brain the size of a pea had made her doubt that she had any worth. He’d hidden her when Mandi deserved to shine out in the world. “If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?”

  “A mortician?”

  He tickled her sides until she bowed off the mattress, laughing.

  “Seriously? What would you do?”

  “Tattoo artist.”

  “You’re kidding me
?”

  “No.” The bed shook as she shifted her body. Her leg rubbed his erection. “I even did an apprenticeship.”

  “That’s when you got the bellybutton ring?”

  “And then I had this tiny baby I was responsible for.”

  “Oh, damn. And your parent’s business.”

  “That about covers it. Why would I want to pay out money for equipment when I already have a steady business that’s been in my family for generations? And I couldn’t exactly work for free and provide for Ellie, but that’s what an apprenticeship is like. No money until you’re really, really good.”

  Again, Stills marveled at the sacrifice Mandi had made, continued to make, for Ellie. He climbed up her body until they lay face-to-face and chest-to-chest. He nudged her knees apart until his hips nestled between her legs. This close, he saw the outline of her body, pale skin against the quilt. He brushed a kiss to her lips. “You are a good woman, Mandi Gault.”

  “Dean, you’re crazy.” Her head twisted side-to-side in denial, but he was having none of it.

  “You are,” he insisted. He loved the way she smelled, the way she didn’t curse, and every big and little thing she did for others. She was a good person who saw good in others. Even him. “I love the way you say my name.”

  “Dean?” she said it plainly as a question.

  “No. That’s not quite right.” He kissed his way down her neck until he nuzzled her full breasts. Sucked a nipple into his mouth.

  She arched her back. “Dean.”

  “Still not there.” He switched to the other side while his hands continued to knead and tease. She moved her hips restlessly against him. He slid his erection through her wet folds and she arched into him. He continued to suckle while his one hand moved between them to massage the hard nub of her clit. When she was bowed up and arching out of control, he slid all the way home.

  Her hands shifted to his shoulders. “Dean.” She gasped the word even as she swayed her hips to his pace.

  “Getting closer,” he said. “But that’s not quite the one that does it for me.” He shifted his arms beneath her knees and then lifted, spreading her all the way open for him. She writhed against him, no longer able to set the pace or even keep up. He pumped into her, each thrust drawing babbles from her. “More,” she said.