by Nya Rayne
He stepped closer to her wordlessly, one large hand going to her hip, the other to the back of her head as he pulled her close, his head dipping, and his tongue darting out to taste her lips.
She moaned, arched forward, and raised one leg, wrapping it around his waist. “Touch me,” she ordered. “Touch me everywhere. Ravish me as if I were your first meal after a lifetime of starvation.”
His fingers slipped down the front of her body, delved into dark curls and through them. She moaned as he parted her lips. His thumb rolled over her small triangle, causing her to shiver and rise up against him.
She gripped his back, pulled his head down to hers, and devoured his lips. She groaned into his mouth as his thick fingers entered her wet sex and swam through her juices. Her hips undulated down on his fingers, searching, begging, and pleading for more, for everything he offered. He picked her up, allowing her to straddle his waist, and carried her over to the bed, where he laid her down.
She gazed up at him, reveling in his beauty, and allowed her hand to roam over his hips as he leaned into her. The thick head of his cock parted her with such grace and power she felt the sparks of an orgasm even before he completed his first full thrust.
Her hand ran over his perfectly taut buttocks, her fingers dipped into his crack. Her fingers grazed a blemish that shouldn’t have been there, but that she knew all too well. She shoved at his broad chest, her passion replaced by fevered rage. “Move,” she shouted, knocking his hands away. “Get away from me!” He stepped back as directed, his eyes searching her face for answers he would never receive. “Turn around!” she ordered as she raised her head and clapped twice loudly, turning the lights on. Her hand roamed down his back to his backside. She gasped; her hand flying to her mouth in astonishment. “You are not him,” she stated rather than questioned, her voice laced with venom, her eyes the size and color of a hungry rattlesnake’s. “You are not my Xavier Donté.”
Chapter Fourteen
Phia yawned, her eyelids heavy, her body lethargic and stiff. She couldn’t come up with one rational explanation for why she was feeling like this. It wasn’t late at night or even early in the morning, and she was certain she’d slept soundly the night before. Owning this information did nothing to stop her from wanting to go back to her sleeper car and crawl beneath the sheets. Yawning again, she reached down and picked up her glass of orange juice.
“So, are you going to tell me why you felt it necessary to move our plans up?” She glanced across the small dining table at Dr. Lobush.
The doctor had called out of the blue the evening before. Something had come up which required they move up their plans for the infiltration of Donté’s home Zoo. She didn’t go into any details, but the urgency in her tone had been enough to get both of them moving. They’d arrived at the train station a little after ten p.m. The doctor had already purchased their tickets, so the only thing left for them to do was board the train. Phia had tried to ask her where they were going, but she’d brushed her question off and instead told them that during this trip, Donté was going to have to play the part of a PAP. If he couldn’t do that, making it out of the state would be impossible.
It had been three days since his memory had come back, and three days since Phia had said anything to him except a few forced pleasantries. Phia wasn’t mad at him, not anymore. She had simply accepted that the man she knew before he got his memories back and the one she knew now were not one and the same. To even hope he’d stay with her after all was said and done was as naïve as her dreams of wanting a real love.
She would help him to free his comrades because it was the right thing to do. Afterward, he would go his way and she would go hers. There was no other way for it to be. He’d made it clear, hadn’t he? He hadn’t slept in the same room, let alone bed, with her at all since his memory came back. He hadn’t even tried. He hadn’t gone out of his way to say anything to her. The time or two it appeared he wanted to say something; he had seemed to rethink it and had turned away from her.
Her feelings hadn’t changed for him, and they probably never would. But she couldn’t allow those feelings to guide her when she knew it would only end in heartbreak.
“Where’s Donté? Will he be joining us?” Dr. Lobush asked.
“He’s still in the room.”
“You two still aren’t talking?”
Phia glanced up at her and then turned her attention to the greenery flying past the window. “There isn’t anything for us to say to one another.”
Dr. Lobush leaned forward. “Why does it seem you’re ready to give up on him? Love is not given without reason, Phia. It must be earned. I thought you knew that.”
“Give up on him?” Phia glowered in annoyance. “What am I supposed to do when he can’t even look at me?”
“You’re supposed to make him,” the doctor said, settling back in her seat. “I honestly thought you were different from the rest of them, but you’re not. You say you want what our ancestors had, but you don’t. You want exactly what the rest of them do: a companion who is made to your precise requirements. One that, as Donté stated, will sniff behind you.”
Phia glared across the table, but she couldn’t find anything to rebut what Dr. Lobush was saying. A part of her knew the doctor was right. Even though she’d said she didn’t want a programmed doll, the fact was, the moment Donté began showing he was his own man, she had pulled back from him without even trying to make it work. She hadn’t tried to apologize to him for her comments made in anger or explain why she had purchased him or how she felt about the things they’d learned over the past few days. She had done nothing to make him believe she wanted him to be anything more than a programmed doll. If anything, her actions had probably solidified in his mind the conviction that he was nothing more than a tool to her. So how could she have expected him to behave lovingly to her, when she wasn’t acting understanding or lovingly to him?
Dr. Lobush reached across the table and squeezed her hand, drawing her from her musings. “I’m sorry, Ms. Zen, I guess I had higher hopes for you and Donté.”
Phia snorted as she glanced around at the other occupants of the dining car. “Where are we going?” she asked once more.
The doctor stood up, leaned across the table, and placed her hand against Phia’s brow. “Your skin is flushed, and you’re a little warm. Are you feeling okay?”
Brushing her hand away, Phia snapped, “I’m fine, and please stop changing the subject. Where are we going?”
Dr. Lobush looked at her for a long moment. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Honestly, I’m fine. Could you please tell me where we’re going?”
“Right now we’re on the way to Florida.”
“Is Donté’s home Zoo located there?”
“No, we’re meeting up with a friend of mine who’s going to be joining us.”
“A friend of yours?”
“Yes, Ms. Zen, I do have those,” Dr. Lobush said, her tone holding a hint of playfulness. She took a sip of her coffee. “I know outside of the basics, I’ve been a little vague, but the plan isn’t in truth mine to divulge. It is something my friend has been working on for some time, and will explain in more detail to both you and Donté in person.”
Phia nodded in understanding, glanced out the large window beside her, and then said, “Tell me what you know about the Zoo.”
“Well, I know what I already told you,” Dr. Lobush whispered.
“You didn’t tell me anything except how it came to be,” Phia countered. “How are they treated? Are they abused?”
Dr. Lobush glanced around the small dining car as if looking for something, before she said, “This is not the right time or place to be discussing this.”
Phia’s eyes narrowed. She hated secrets, and she especially hated when they were being kept from her. Perhaps under normal circumstances she would have taken the woman at her word and left it alone, but there was nothing normal about their current situation. She was putt
ing her very existence on the line, so she was damn sure going to be told everything about the place they were taking her. “Well, when do you propose is the right time to talk about it? When we’re standing at the doors?”
“Don’t be silly, Ms. Zen, now is not the time, okay? Trust me.”
“That’s all I’ve been doing and look where it has gotten me,” she snapped back. “You will answer my questions. Was he abused?”
Dr. Lobush sighed and leaned across the table. “I only worked in one for a year while I was in med school, but I didn’t see the kind of abuse you’re probably thinking of. The Nurturers, which is the title they go by in there, are kept in bays as Donté said. They are trained to go to bed, wake up, and eat on an unvarying schedule, and they are taught various things the Elites have decided every good man needs to know to please a woman.”
“What kind of things?”
“Things,” the doctor said, glancing around the car again.
“Like what? To read and write?”
“Among other things, yes.”
“Jesus, stop with the double-speak and tell me,” Phia growled.
“They’re taught to make love and to be attentive to women. They are taught to listen and how to behave, okay? They are taught that ever to disobey a woman will bring severe punishment. They are taught to be, basically, obedient well-performing dogs, Ms. Zen. So yes, it’s quite possible Donté was humiliated quite often, and yes, there was probably some sort of abuse he endured. Before you ask, I have no idea what the abuse entailed.”
Phia sat back, stunned and ashamed. She knew this treatment had not been her doing, but it was still issued at the request of a woman like her. Donté had been correct in his assessment of what they thought of him and his friends. They thought of them as nothing but pets which had to be trained properly before they were brought into society and then not even as themselves, but as stilted HAPs, who knew not who they were, but only who they were supposed to be. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she looked up at the doctor. “How do they get chosen?”
The doctor’s annoyance was obvious as she said, “The Elite who is in search of a new HAP will put in a request for one with specific criteria, such as build, temperament, and nationality. Using the specified criteria, each nurturer who matches closely enough will be called into a testing room and recorded performing certain acts. From these recordings the Elite chooses the one she wants.”
“They choose based on build, temperament, and nationality?”
“Yes, as eye color, hair color, or the size of the genitals can be changed at will when they arrive at the chosen intact facility.”
“They act like they’re choosing high-priced beef.”
“To them, they are.” A waiter passed carrying a tray of food, and Phia could feel her stomach lurch as the aroma of some kind of fish and oil assailed her. She inhaled, closed her eyes, and swallowed the bile rising in the back of her throat.
“Ms. Zen, are you okay?”
Phia dismissed her with a wave of her hand and took another moment to compose herself before she trusted herself to speak. “I’m fine.”
“I could give you a quick examination.”
“Not necessary,” Phia said, her irritation rising again. She pushed to her feet, the things she’d learned weighing heavily on her mind. “I’m going to lie down for a while.”
“I’ll send the waiter down with a bottle of ginger ale,” the doctor said with concern, standing up as well.
Phia shot her an appreciative smile over her shoulder and continued out of the car, her hand placed over her stomach as if it would help to alleviate the nausea twirling and flipping her innards. She couldn’t remember feeling quite this queasy before, and as she started down the narrow hallway and through several of the linked train cars to the sleeper section, she decided the minute her head hit the pillow, she was not going to worry about it. Furthermore, she would try her damnedest not to think too much about the Zoo and Donté’s treatment therein.
The Zoo was his past, she would try to remind herself, and his future was the entire world.
Donté stared down at Phia’s sleeping form and wondered how anyone could sleep so soundly and for so long without moving. This had become something of a routine for the two them. She would sleep, and he would stand or sit nearby watching her.
He’d tried on several occasions over the last few days to tell her thanks again for helping him when he knew she probably didn’t want to, and he’d tried apologizing for his behavior as well, but every time he gathered the nerve and turned to face her, his mouth would open and nothing would come out. He decided after the first few times it probably had everything to do with the guilt gnawing at him over how he’d treated her.
Sure, she had purchased him, but based on the society she lived in, did she truly have any other alternative? If she had wanted a true pet or wanted to exploit the male species in the manner he had crucified her for, she wouldn’t have told Dr. Lobush not to alter him. She could have carved out who he was and remade him in her eyes, but she hadn’t. He found himself even more drawn to her than previously. In the wee hours of the morning when he was supposed to be asleep on the couch, he would, like a thief in the night, sneak into her bedroom. He’d spend hours staring down at her peaceful face before carefully crawling into bed beside her.
Donté made sure he was gone before she woke up. However, in those hours as he lay with her, inhaling the scent of rain and flowers which flowed from her, he knew what was pulling him to her ran much deeper than any programming ever could. In truth, he didn’t understand it totally, but there was something unseen, and yet so palpable, between them he thought he could touch and taste it if he tried.
Donté shook off his thoughts and set the tray of food down on the nightstand beside the bed as Phia shifted on the pillow and snuggled a little deeper into the blankets covering her.
The urge to slide in beside her was a powerful thing, but he fought it. She’d already been sleeping far too long. It was only a matter of time before she woke. He spared a moment to run his knuckles down her cheek and brush a few strands of black hair from the side of her face before he turned and left the small compartment.
Phia awoke with a start, her heart racing, sweat beading on her brow. She saw the food on the nightstand. Either Dr. Lobush or Donté had been in the room to check on her. Who it was she wasn’t certain, but she didn’t waste any time gobbling down the meal. Once she was done, she made quick work of taking a shower and dressing. She twisted her thick, black mane into a loose bun at the back of her head and chose a summery number to wear with her silver platform Roman sandals.
Her mind was still racing, and she was sure she knew the reason why. It was the dream she’d had about Donté.
The two of them had been standing in the middle of a forest. Thick fog rolled around them, as if it were an executioner waiting on the final verdict. In the background, she could hear the doctor’s accusatory words from earlier played loudly about them as if coming from speakers hidden within the trees. The doctor’s tone was so pejorative she felt forced to defend herself, but when she tried, no words would come out. Each allegation the doctor threw at her seemed to force more space between her and Donté. Phia reached for him, and at one point tried to run to him, but her feet wouldn’t move. Eventually, so much space was between them she couldn’t see him anymore and found herself plunged into a fit of despair that seemed to consume her very soul.
Phia wasn’t sure what it was about the dream that had gotten to her the most, but she woke with the undeniable urge to see and to talk to him…to tell him everything, to beg him to give her a chance and not walk away.
Exiting the room, she headed to the dining car, hoping he and Dr. Lobush would still be there. Neither of them was, so she checked the lounge car and even went by the doctor’s room. Still, she found no one. She roamed the train all the way up to the engine room and came up empty-handed. Feeling discouraged, she turned and headed back, stopping i
n the lounge to buy a bottle of ginger ale and a bag of pretzels. He’d have to come by her room eventually since he was sleeping on the couch.
As she closed in on her room, she noticed two additional cars behind theirs. She started in that direction. The cars were identical to hers. They each had two doors on one side of a small hallway that wasn’t big enough to allow two full-size adults to walk down side by side.
Phia stopped at the last door and realized she was actually at the end of the train itself. She carefully stepped out onto a small, porch-like platform, which was a moving balcony with retractable glass windows that slid up into a cabinet in the ceiling.
The breeze blew around her, twisting underneath her dress, and she giggled and pinned it down with the bag of pretzels in one hand while trying to keep hold of her drink with the other. She stepped to the railing and stared up at what looked to be billions of stars skating across a sky so black it gave the appearance of being a dark purple. Phia sighed, stepped back, and turned. She stopped short as her eyes fell on the very person she’d been hunting for.
Phia tried to take a step back. Her sandal slipped, and suddenly she could feel herself falling backward. Her free hand flailed out to her sides, looking for something to hold onto, while her other hand grasped the items she’d been holding. Her hand found his, and Donté pulled her forward away from the railing, saving her as he’d done so many times before, without even knowing it.
Chapter Fifteen
“Be careful,” Donté whispered as he steadied Phia. The touch of his hands against her skin sent electricity spiraling through him, charring his insides. He wanted to embrace her as he whispered words of apology in her ear, but he fought the urge for reasons he didn’t quite understand.
Stepping away from her with reluctance, he shoved his hands in his pockets and allowed his eyes to rove over her elegant form. He took in the sumptuous curve of her hips, the enticing rise of her breasts, the rosy hue of her cheeks, and instantly regretted not walking away as thick and frothy desire rose up in him, forcing the air from his lungs. Balling his hands into two tight fists within his pockets, he gritted his teeth and dragged his gaze away from her with a frustrated sigh as he began to turn away.