“I’m sorry I woke you. I just—” Her throat clogged up and she cleared it. “I just needed a minute.”
“I’m sorry I scared the fuck out of you, Aurora Rae. I’m sorry I brought you here, put you in danger.”
She shook her head. “It was my choice to be here. None of this is on you.” Knowing what she did now, would she do it again? No, not if it meant one busted knuckle on Zeke. She held up the jar of arnica. “Will you let me rub this on you?”
He flipped the quilt back to bare his chest. “I will let you do anything you want to me.”
The comment made her stop moving. He’d said things like that before. She’d never understood he was serious. Had treated his devotion as a joke to avoid dealing with it and he’d played along. The wrongness of that almost made the tears flow again.
“Ah, shit, Rory. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He sat, hands pulling at his hair.
His eye socket was a deeper shade of purple, the cut on his brow was angry and the gouges on his chest were a painful reminder the drugs had made him hurt himself.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” She started for him again, stopped at the foot of the bed and climbed on, lifting the quilt to see his feet. “But I owe you an apology. I’ve treated you so unfairly for such a long time.” She focused on the torn skin under his toes and insteps because she was too much of a coward to look in his eyes. “I don’t even know where to start saying I’m sorry for that.”
“Loving you wasn’t ever a burden to me. All I wanted was for you to be happy. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
She had to bite down on her back teeth not to start bawling again. “Even when I danced around how you felt, knowing you were halfway in love with me and too greedy about keeping you in my life to shut you down?” A definition of unforgivable right there.
“I had no choice. It just was, Aurora Rae. I have loved you for better or worse since I can remember. Loving you is a part of who I am.”
For that he’d gotten scraps of her and she’d gotten only the parts of him that were safe to show. Right this minute she’d never hated herself more. She’d have cried out but her lungs were squeezed too tight by emotion to function. There wasn’t going to be anymore worse between them. She’d make that true.
She pushed him back to the bed. “I don’t know if I deserve you. I don’t know why I didn’t see you clearly, but I do now. I’m in love with you and I’m going to keep telling you, so you never doubt it.”
“Do you think you could seal that with a kiss?” he said, pointing to his lips.
If she kissed him now, she’d definitely be in floods of tears again because it would feel too much like forgiveness and she wasn’t ready for that.
“I’ll work up to it.” She put her fingers on his foot, and at the first tentative swipe of the gel he flinched.
“Tickles,” he said, putting his hand over his face as if he wanted to hide.
That was the moment she discovered that for everything she knew about him; his devotion, his humor, his ability to make her happy just by being in her life, he was still a mysterious stranger and she had so much to learn about loving him without limits.
He looked at her through his fingers. “I don’t know if I can take you touching my feet.”
An echo of what she’d said when he’d had his fingers inside her and she’d wanted to pass out from the thrill. He’d gone still, even as he had to have wondered that her words didn’t match her body’s reaction. He’d still checked himself. He had always put her needs in front of his.
“I don’t know if I can take you being in pain.”
He made a growly sound. “At least you can lose the shirt and let me look at you.”
She pretended to be shocked by the ask, making him grin, letting the humor provide them both ease. She saw to his feet, working quickly so as not to irritate him, moving on to the burns at his ankles and then the bruising on his shins. That was the point she had to lift the quilt aside to get to his thighs and hips.
She put a hand to the soft over-washed cotton and his shot out to stop her. “You’re going to find out the effect you’re having on me the minute you lift this quilt.”
Oh my. She tossed the quilt aside. The mass of angry bruising on his hip was a minor distraction from his very pretty erection.
“We don’t need to do anything about that,” he said.
A sound came out of her that let him know she wasn’t simply playing nurse anymore and very much thinking about what she could do about that. She passed a gelled hand gently over the red marks on his thigh and he flinched again, his skin goose-bumping.
“Am I hurting you?”
“I’m feeling no pain.”
She didn’t know at what point this became less about her awkwardness and Zeke feeling ticklish and more about arousal, but she was all in. She lost the T-shirt and sat over his thighs.
He groaned. “That’s not fair.”
“You asked for it.”
“I’m dazed and confused and so fucking sensitive to your touch right now.”
“Only now?”
“Fucking always.”
That was like an X-rated love letter sent express messenger. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
He laughed and draped his arm over his face again. “Do your worst.”
She worked the arnica into the hideous mass of bruising on his hip with the fingers of both hands in gentle circular movements, watching his stomach dip and his abs harden at the contact. He had red marks on his ribs, and as she eased up his thighs to reach them he grunted and bit his bottom lip.
There was a straight line between Zeke struggling to lie still, those teeth in his lip and her pounding need to have him inside her. She had to close her eyes. She had a mission to complete despite the fact she was at sensory overload. She shouldn’t be thinking about how incredible he was spread out like this at her disposal, how powerful his body was when he was beaten up.
How unbearably hot it was that he was turned on and trying to fight it.
Or that her breath was all chopped up, her nipples were aching, and she could feel how wet she was.
She dragged a finger gently down his cock from crown to balls, making him grunt in surprise. “If I want to do something about it?”
“Totally up to you,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m in your hands.”
Oh for that quip he earned another gentle stroke and her reward was the swoosh of air he exhaled.
It was only needing to treat the rest of his cuts and bruises that stopped her doing with her tongue what she’d just done with her finger. She dealt with the scrapes on his forearm. The scores on his wrist from a plastic tie were sobering.
“Give me your other wrist.” The one he was still hiding behind.
He lifted his arm away from his face. His expression making her gasp. His eyes were half-lidded, heavy with desire, his cheeks were flushed. “You can have my wrist if you wriggle on up a little more.”
A little more and they were two heartbeats off fucking. “Bargaining.”
“A desperate cry for help.”
“I’ll hurt your hip.” It must’ve hurt him before, but then sex was a great analgesic.
“Nothing on what my poor disappointed dick will feel.”
She laughed and took his hand, settling over him; his shiver traveling right through her; his groan feeding her whimper. The pot of arnica was forgotten because she couldn’t not move on him, her wetness making it easy to glide on his length.
“Is this real?” she said.
His hands were on her thighs. “Maybe not,” he said, flexing under her, giving her a thumb to rub against, just the way she liked it. “Too good to be true.”
Too beautiful when he pinched her nipples, when she arched and took him inside and he pulled her down to his chest. Too incredible when they kissed and held each other tight, and when he cried out and his orgasm triggered hers, it was too wonderful not to believe it would be forever.
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In the aftermath, he closed his eyes and she found the arnica and completed her circuit of his body, focusing on the torn skin over his heart and his face. She felt calm now, for the first time since he was brought in to Orrin’s apartment, and the calmness brought questions.
“You drove through the gate. What were you thinking?” It wasn’t anything she’d had cause to expect.
“I couldn’t leave Mike exposed. I traded his chance at treatment for information, on its own enough to shut this place down. I miscalculated the reaction from Orrin. Maybe not my smartest move, given how things unfolded.”
The calmness brought clarity? She leaned over his chest and kissed him. He wanted to save everyone here, even if he had to do it one at a time. “It might not have gone so badly if I’d not just pulled the pregnancy stunt.”
He grunted assent, his hand tangling in her hair to keep her close. “The way Orrin had hold of you. What the guys who took me said would be done to you.” He squeezed her closer still. “That kept playing in my head while I was out there. How much danger you were in.”
I kept thinking you might be dead before I found you. She didn’t say it aloud, but he read it anyway. “We’re all right. Both of us. We survived and so will everyone here. No austerity measures, no being forced into relationships, no slavery, sexual or otherwise. No doomsday anytime yet.”
Between lazy kisses and not so lazy caresses they dozed and woke, to turn to each other again, this time with no crazed haste or awkwardness. They weren’t fucking, they weren’t celebrating surviving. Zeke touched her with such tenderness and reverence, he had her blissed out in a haze she’d never expected to feel. Seeing her effect on him was another shot of delight. She could unravel him, make him greedy, a desperation that made her feel both powerful and powerfully desired.
Hours later, when Tresna called to check in and they were bathed and dressed, and in the truck ready to head back to Abundance, she was still feeling safe, loved and cherished.
Zeke sat in the passenger seat, barefoot, because she hadn’t thought to bring shoes. His bruised eye was almost closed up, and his hair all tousled from her hands and the last-minute making out they’d done before getting in the truck. God, she loved him, it was so right and easy, and knowing it gave her the confidence and strength for anything.
They were mostly bystanders now. The authorities Tres called in had a procedure to raid the place, secure it and everyone in it, making arrests as needed, and bringing counselors in to begin deprogramming the Continuers. Apart from an illegal weapons cache, it looked like Orrin intended to starve the settlement while raising more money for his own purposes. And then there was the need to discover who else had the met the fate designed for Zeke.
There was a pesky deprogramming of their own to get through before she could go home to her e-reader stacked with books she longed to read. To her apartment and gym and nails that weren’t chipped and torn, skin that didn’t have stress breakouts and her favorite bookshop that had to still be there. To having proven to the family she was reliable again, to herself she could be trusted.
They’d planned separate breaks by design. R&Rs to ease the transition between Abundance and home. Now it’d be a toss-up whether Zeke came with her to her spa retreat or she went with him wherever he’d planned to go.
She didn’t get a chance to have that conversation because almost as soon as they were moving, he was asleep.
By the time they arrived back, the local sheriff was installed in a command tent in the town square and there was a solid presence of outsiders clearly identified as law enforcement, medical staff or social welfare workers. Orrin, Spencer and others in the leadership circle were being held for questioning while a full investigation unfolded.
There was a series of briefings scheduled in the community hall and an internet hub had been established with PCs available for people who wanted to log on to news sites and discover the truth.
Over the next week, every Continuer would be interviewed, debriefed, assigned a permanent counselor, provided with an advance of cash and a cell phone and helped to re-enter the world they’d given up for dead.
They located Tres with the ease of a phone call. Her purple hair was causing a good few stares.
“What the hell happened to you?” she said to Zeke. And to Rory, “What happened to sticking together? You let him get drugged and beaten up?”
Oh shit. Maybe she wasn’t so ready to join the world after all.
“No. I let me get drugged and beaten up. Rory saved my ass, and I’m fine by the way,” Zeke said, giving Tres a hug that lifted her off her feet.
Rory got hers from Tres then. “You did it. You broke this place. You’re amazing. Is he really okay? Are you?”
“He needs to sleep for a week. He needs to put what happened to him on record, but he’ll be fine. We both are.”
There were introductions then, hands shaken, explanations given. A doctor took a quick look at Zeke, pronounced him lucky and prescribed rest. A team was dispatched to search the caves for weapons. Another to secure the money. A cabin door-to-door check and vehicle inventory was underway.
It surprised no one on the raid team that the semitrailer was missing and neither Orrin or Spencer knew anything about it. That pissed Rory off. She had to hope the information she provided would help the authorities track it down before it disappeared.
While Zeke told his story to a couple of agents and identified his would-be assassins, she snuck away to check on Cadence and rustle up a pair of shoes for him. She ran into Shavonne first.
“Jessica Jones my ass. You’re one of them cops, right?” Shavonne said, shaking her head so her beaded braids whipped about. “I knew you were a piece of work. You might have told me I was living a lie. I just logged on to one of those PCs. It’s not all good out there, but it’s not all bad either. Nothing like they kept telling us. I feel like a damn fool.”
“You were conned. Gaslit. Fed lies. It’s not your fault.”
“Easy for you to say.” Shavonne frowned. “I thought I was smarter than that. I’m angry, so incredibly angry. They’re saying there’ll be counseling, help to get resettled, and find new jobs. I don’t want to go back to teaching but I’ve got an idea. Friend of mine has an amazing original recipe for barbecue sauce. Maybe we’ll go into business, make ourselves rich and safe that way.”
Rory could guess who that friend was, and that Cal could find the money to start up a business to bring Macy’s barbecue sauce to the world. One good thing to come out of Abundance.
It was no surprise that when she got to Cadence’s cabin it was closed tight.
“Cadence. Open up.”
Nothing.
“I know you’re in there.” There was no way she’d be wandering around outside in the confusion. “I came to see if you’re okay and to explain if you’ll let me.”
Nothing.
“You don’t ever have to see me or Zeke again. We want you to know no one will ever make you be with someone you don’t want to be with ever again.”
The Zeke was deliberate. It was the key.
“Who are you?” Cadence peered out from a slit in the open door.
Not ex-addict, poor little rich girl Rosie Woods. Not Rory Archer, uncertain and needing to prove herself anymore.
“My name is Aurora Archer. Zack’s real name is Zeke Sherwood. He’s not my brother.”
“That’s a relief.” The door opened a little wider. “The whole incest thing was too kinky for me. Are you lovers?”
Once she’d have laughed that off. A simple nod made flowers bloom in the middle of her chest.
Cadence came out on the porch and they sat on the steps. “You’re imposters. Fakes.”
“We came here undercover because we suspected there was a lot wrong in Abundance. You’ll get the help you need to start again.”
“I could just stay here.”
“Or you could move to a nice town and get a library card, an internet connection, Netflix, a local p
izza place that delivers, and a couple of cats.”
“I hate cats,” Cadence said, though she was smiling. “The world wasn’t kind to me. That’s why I was an addict. I don’t want to go back out there.”
“I’m not going to suggest it will be easy, but you won’t have to do it alone. We’ll make sure you have as much support as you need, for as long as you need it.”
“Who is we?”
“My family. Busting bad guys is what we do for fun.”
Cadence shook her head. “I don’t want the details.”
Probably just as well. As far as the FBI was concerned, they were philanthropists on a mission. It was a carefully cultivated version of the truth that didn’t get them arrested for their other less legal vigilante activities. “How do you feel about dogs?”
They settled on an easy-care goldfish for Cadence’s emotional support animal, after rejecting peacocks, wombats, sloths and goats, both of them laughing at the idea.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth,” Rory said.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to know it. I was busy trying to hide in here, pretending there wasn’t something rotten about this place. I have a good friend in Ojai, California, and since it’s still part of the United States, and if she’ll forgive me for leaving her behind, I think I’d like to move there, me and my emotional support goldfish.”
That could be arranged. They ended the visit with a hug, an exchange of shoes for Rory and Zeke’s contact details and a promise that Cadence was welcome to be in touch anytime.
It was more likely Cadence got two Ojai strays and called them Rosie and Zack.
Rory was still smiling about that when she made her way back to the command tent to find Zeke wasn’t there.
She slapped a hand on her back pocket and then yelped in frustration. The real world might be back, but she still couldn’t call him till she got some tech organized.
“He’s gone,” Tres said.
If he was leading some field search mission that was unfair. “He’s done enough. He needs to rest.”
“Absolutely. He’s more than done. He wanted out of here. Took off about half an hour ago.”
The Mysterious Stranger (The Confidence Game Book 3) Page 24