The Runaway Viper (Viper #2)

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  “You haven’t,” I fight him, my brow furrowing. “Jace, you promised me freedom, and I have that. Sure, we’ve not settled until now, but I haven’t had to worry about my shifts or what man I’ll have to please. You promised to never leave me and you haven’t. You promised to love me and you sealed that deal perfectly.”

  When I see Jace’s face loosen, the content gaze returning, I allow my shoulders to drop. All of the angst and tension we showered upon one another has collided into tiny stars of forgiveness. Our first argument as a married couple ended just as soon as it happened.

  “I think we’ve got each other twisted on this,” Jace mocks our idiocy. “I thought marriage was supposed to be born on honesty and trust.”

  “And stupid arguments,” I counter, agreeing to laugh at our stupidity.

  He takes a stride toward me. His hand raises up, catching my face delicately, so I’m compelled to look at him. “Never think I’d cowardly take the easy road out without telling you how I feel.” He leans in, his lips above mine, but there’s a moment of hesitancy. “Got it?”

  “Got it,” I whisper back, and we fall into one another, kissing away the stupidity of our uproar.

  Pulling away, his hand draws down along my jaw, his thumb gliding softly across my lip. “Now go get the shower started.”

  “Okay,” I nod, recognizing the longing in his tone. My voice itself carries forth delicately, my nerves still not fully restored. I break away from him, taking myself toward the stairs. I make hardly any noise as I go, my thoughts still clawing heavily at my heels.

  Jace clearly notices as he pins me against the wall, feral and raw. My arms are pressed flat to the wall above me. I’m trapped deliciously between his body and the cold wall.

  “I only like you quiet when it’s because of me,” he growls lowly at me. “I think you and I need words – again. You are never to worry yourself into submission. Not anymore.” He begins to kiss along my jaw, nipping, licking, peppering my skin with attention. I feel him move lower, his hands gripping tighter around my wrists.

  “Jace,” I exhale breathlessly, my body aching for him suddenly.

  He slowly pulls away, the action reluctant. His eyes meet mine, and his pupils have dilated with lust. “I carried you over the threshold; I think it’s only fair to christen the house now.” He watches me, but I don’t reply. I’m lost in his eyes. “What do you say, baby?” he asks and resumes kissing me, but still I’m unable to respond to him.

  I inhale sharply as his bites at my skin, forcing my eyes to shut. I can’t think straight, I’m jetlagged, and now aroused. I want to feel him taking me against the wall.

  “Let’s make dirty memories,” he murmurs, kissing back up to my lips. His demeanor changes, his hands release me, and he picks me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist. “Starting with the kitchen.”

  I yelp excitedly as Jace carries me through the hallway, making it to the spacious kitchen which overlooks the harbors. Placing me upon one of the counters, I grab his shirt, forcing it up his body. He allows me to lift it over his head and down his arms before he takes over. He forces my shirt off and immediately goes for my bra. He hungrily kisses down the valley of my breasts, forcing me to lean back as his hands roam down my waist and onto my hips until they’re clawing desperately at my denim shorts. He kisses across my stomach and up to my breasts as his fingers play with the buttons on my shorts. He’s sensitizing my body, arousing me to a pleasurable state, but when he gets me completely naked, he stops. My body becomes needy, shrieking out for his help. I watch as he completely strips. He doesn’t make it anything sexy, it’s no elusive strip tease, but it does nothing to lessen how turned on I am. Just as my body screams out like a banshee again, he’s back, grabbing me. He pulls me forward to the edge of the countertop and without any forethought to guide the moment, he fills me with his length.

  All I can do is gasp as my body finally gets what it’s been desperate for.

  “I wanted you on that damn plane,” he grunts, forcing himself into me again. “The way you sat there so quiet, that look you had like the first time I met you. Like your head was stuck up in the clouds, waiting for something better, something fun. I wanted nothing more than to kiss the furrow away from your brow and make that flight memorable for the right reasons.”

  “Stop making excuses and just make love to me, Jace,” I order him fiercely, my hands gripping at his hair. “Forgive and forget. I’ve forgiven, now let me forget.”

  I toss him a wicked smirk, and he’s catapulted into action. I’m ripped from my perch, his fingers digging into my ass as he carries me a few feet across the wall and forces my back against the wall. My legs are back around his waist, my arms wrapped around his neck, and I know the moment’s only about to get hotter. I’m stark naked, yearning for fulfilment, and the object of my desire is taunting me.

  He leans in, kissing my chest, distracting me for a second. I bite my lip as he kisses back to the spot on my neck he know makes me weak. While I gasp in mounting ecstasy, I’m surprised when he shifts his weight on his feet and penetrates once more into my hot core. He withdraws from my body only to pump back into me with fierce stamina. He rocks my body, forcing me back against the wall with each sweet penetration.

  I can feel my back taking the full brunt of this intimacy, but I don’t care. His fingers grip my hips harder as he works himself to his own climax. Even as I come, he only slows to accommodate me, but doesn’t give up entirely. I’m in pure bliss as Jace comes within me, and I sit pinned against the wall by his entire body weight. He’s collapsed against me, panting and kissing me.

  “Am I forgiven?” he asks, lifting his head from my shoulder.

  “You’re forgiven,” I pant, my head falling forward so my forehead is against his.

  ***

  I feel like I’m caught in a whirlwind. It’s beautiful and breathtaking. I’m just its victim, caught up in this blissful melody. It’s a ride I never want to get off. Jace has been the working man the past two weeks, while I look for potential jobs. So far, all I’ve managed is a trip around Sydney and having a meal prepared nightly for Jace. This is domesticated bliss.

  There’s only way to describe how I feel in life now – love drunk.

  I’ve been sitting on the dock all evening. Ever since dinner actually. Jace is trying to settle on a place to build a Sydney branch and tonight the bay is so calm, I just wanted to enjoy a little serenity while I wait for Jace to finish a business call.

  “You coming to bed?” Jace calls out, walking down with a bottle of champagne. “Or do you fancy partying?”

  “Partying over what?” I ask, my feet still dangling down over the dock. I sit back, my hands going out to support my weight behind me. I lounge back and watch him approach with a bottle of Moet and two glass flutes. It’s a gentle reminder of The Viper Rooms, but it’s also a reminder of my private moments with Jace.

  “I just secured a building overlooking the Sydney Opera House!” he declares proudly, and I take no hesitancy to stand up and pounce on him. “Whoa, girl!”

  “I’m so happy for you!” I shout excitedly. He is making dreams come true left, right, and center. He hugs me the best he can with his hands full as I wrap myself around him. I frame his face, kissing him quickly. “Jace Mason taking on Australia.”

  He chuckles at me and raises an eyebrow. “It’s a small office space-”

  “But it’s a start,” I admonish abruptly, not letting him take the excitement away. “So,” I start, but pause to back away so I can take the glasses from his left hand, “Let’s toast.”

  Jace melts into an easy smile and nods. He unwraps the top of the bottle and pops the cork, allowing it to shoot off into the water. He pours us both a small amount, and we toast to the beginning. I’ve only had a few sips when he takes the flute from me and places our glasses down, only to take my hand, pulling me flush against his body. He places his hands strategically, holding me poised ready for a slow dance.

  �
�Can you hear the music?” he asks me, pointing in the direction of a local party only a few houses away. When I nod, he begins to sway my body with his. “Then let’s have our first slow dance since arriving in Oz.”

  “Let’s,” I murmur, my eyes tearing up.

  Jace rocks my body on the spot a little. After a few moments, I drop my head upon his shoulder. We rock in the light breeze, the sun settling down. There’s nothing to disturb us, but I can feel the lull of the pacing making me aware of how tired I am today. But I refuse to give up this moment.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he tells me, not releasing my hand. “I want to show you the new office first thing in the morning.”

  “Sounds good,” I mutter, suddenly exhausted. “Do you know how tiring job hunting is?”

  “Then let me carry you,” he remarks, scooping me up.

  “We seem to do a lot of this,” I comment teasingly. “You carrying me around a lot.”

  “Like you complain,” Jace smirks and says nothing else. He leaves the champagne behind and carries me toward our house. When we’re inside, he doesn’t put me down to lock the doors, vowing to turn the lights off once I’m in the shower. He only puts me down when we’re in the bedroom.

  “I’ll meet you in the shower,” he says, pushing me toward the door, slapping my ass as I obey.

  ***

  I'm awoken to a smash. As my mind awakens I hear the shatter of glass against tiles and I sit up. My body is hardening in trepidation, my cells seizing up in fear. I hit out, smacking Jace’s chest. He mumbles miserably at me, telling me to stop, but the more movement I hear, the more terror is thrust upon me.

  “Jace!” I say through gritted teeth.

  “What?” he asks just as I hit out again. "What's wrong?" Jace's sits up beside me. His voice is heightened with panic now he can see something isn’t quite right.

  I slap my palm flat across his lips, silencing him. "Shh," I whisper, my voice remaining quiet. "I think there's someone downstairs."

  He forces my hand away, and we sit in the middle of the bed listening. I’m terrified and I grip onto Jace out of pure fright. When he throws the sheets off himself, I grab at him, but he tells me to be quiet. I close my eyes and open them to see him going to the door of our master bedroom. He opens it gently, only stepping out a few feet to see over the railing. He quickly backtracks into the room, closing the door gently.

  “Pack!” he whispers his order at me, and I freeze up. “Joely, don’t sit around, you need to pack! And get dressed. We need to leave.”

  As my shock diffuses, I find myself suddenly moving as Jace pulls on yesterday’s clothing again, I mimic him. I run straight for the large closet, hauling out one of our duffel bags and take it to the bed. I don’t care if I forget stuff; I am going to just shove as many of Jace’s clothes in with mine. I take family photos I have, Jace’s too, and throw in the mix. I’m throwing things in blindly and carelessly. When I’m done, I zip the bag closed and look to Jace.

  “Right, I want you to go out onto the balcony, throw the bag out and then follow me downstairs. I’ll make a distraction, so you can get out,” he throws demands at me, orders of clear strategic origin. “I’ll meet you by the stairs for the dock.”

  I grab for him. “Jace, don’t,” I warn, not wanting him to go out there and put himself in danger. The thought of him getting hurt sickens me. I’m not sure I could do this life alone anymore. “You can’t leave me.”

  “It’s just until we’re both on the boat,” he reminds me, trying to ease my mind.

  All I can do is nod. It’s not what I want to do, I want to wake up and realize this was a sick nightmare my subconscious decided to play upon me. As Jace leaves the bedroom, I follow like a good wife. We creep down the steps and can hear them in the farthest part of the house – one seems to be in the basement garage, while another seems to be tearing apart our entertainment room. Jace gets me to the patio door, the glass already shattered.

  “Go,” he whispers. “I just need to get to the study. I’ll get out of here just after you.”

  He kisses my forehead, but I grab at his shirt. I pull him close and kiss him as passionately as possible. I want him to remember the ferocity of my love for him, give him my silent plea to follow as quickly as he can. When I hear a loud smash we’re thrown apart, and he forces me onto the glass covered deck. I take one last look at him and flee.

  I’m thankful for the short distance between the back deck and our private boat dock. I run blindly down it, the boat my only goal right now. All while I hear my name being called out, and it’s not Jace’s voice that’s the culprit. I look behind me and, in that second, I lose my footing and cascade forward heavily. The bag of clothes softens the blow, but my head hits the wooden sides. I clamber back up in fear of being caught and apprehended. I can feel a warmth sliding down my temple, but don’t inspect, I just run for the boat at the end of the dock, hugging the bag close to my chest.

  Getting to the edge of the dock, I jump down upon the boat’s deck, tossing the bag aside to get the get the motor started. When it’s on, I do nothing more than sit on the boat, engine now running, and feel the perspiration burst to life all over my body. Jace is nowhere in sight and as I hear glass shatter and my home be torn apart I start to wonder if I should go back.

  But I remember his words and grip onto the side of the boat. The feeling of going to help him doesn’t diminish as I see flames burst to life; the kitchen going up almost immediately. I can’t stop the tears that prick to life and begin to fall and I resort to dropping my head into my hands. I feel helpless and vulnerable, and I’m caught in a chokehold between what I should do and what my gut is telling me to do.

  “Joely!”

  I look up and see Jace running toward me. I watch him run toward me, just as windows blow out of the house. Our perfect home is now ablaze, and my heart is in my throat. I’ve never been happier to see him so unscathed and the look on his face tells me he’s happy to see me here like he ordered. Jumping onto the boat, he wastes no time putting his hands either side of my face, inspecting my grazes and marks. He notices the stream of blood down my face, and I see his eyes widen with panic.

  “I tripped, but I’m okay,” I whisper gently, closing my eyes as his thumb traces over my temple below the cut.

  “You’re okay?” he asks me as if not hearing my gentle sentence.

  I nod. “I’m okay,” I repeat to him, smiling mirthlessly.

  With that he nods his own head, calculating our freedom. “Okay,” he murmurs, and starts to look around the boat, the enormity of the moment catching up. Even though we’re hidden well out here, there’s still enough moonlight and light from the fire to make us visible.

  “What took you so long?” I scold him. I’m relieved he’s here, but my heart couldn’t take the thought of him being hurt or worse while I sat out here.

  “I had to get to the safe. I had to get money for us to be able to get out of here,” he enlightens me, stowing a large wad of money into the bag I carry. “We need to go.”

  “Jace,” I start, putting my hand onto his to stop him for the moment. “What happened back there? How were we found?”

  Even though he’s not looking at me while he unties us from the dock and pushes out into the bay, his words send my body into overdrive.

  “Because Clara’s found us.”

  Chapter Seven

  Jace drove the boat further and further away from the inferno that embraced our home. He didn’t look back, didn’t slow the speed he was accelerating us forward with, and didn’t speak much until we made it to a new harbor.

  I didn’t speak, didn’t utter a sound, as I followed his chosen moves. I was his puppet right up until the point he had us safely locked away behind a hotel door. Once I was sitting on the large bed, the shock filtered away. It thawed out and drizzled from my system and left me a panicked shell of myself.

  Clara had found us. I don’t know how, but my insecurities flared up like torturous little beasts te
lling me it was Eli or Josh. That it could be Josh’s wife or Jace’s brother. One of them was a snitch – just like Brianna was. The rational side of my brain did fight back; telling me I was insane and needed to draw a breath before casting accusatory thoughts around.

  But it didn’t matter what I was thinking because of one thing – Clara had found us.

  “We’ll move again in the morning.” Jace’s voice barely penetrates the hazy edge of my head, but I know he is erratically pacing for one reason. He’s trying to form a game plan, trying to save us, save me again. “We’ll have to get out of the country.”

  I look up at him as he speaks. We’re across the world, and we’re still no safer, so how can he think getting out of the country will work? Getting out of the country didn’t work in the first place. I feel a wave of nausea take over, both a mixture of the boat journey to safety and the fact that the devil is hot on our tail.

  Closing my eyes, I dare myself to speak. “How can you be so sure getting out of the country is the best plan?” I open them and can see him think hard the moment I utter the question. “We’ve barely stopped running for almost eight months now, and it didn’t work. I’m not sure I can continue running now, Jace.”

  “Joely,” he utters and drops before me, keeping my attention on him. “I will find out what happened, and I will make it safe for you again.”