Come Back to Me_A Brother's Best Friend Romance

by Vivien Vale

  Then again, I remember the anger I had felt when I saw he’d been spying on me. I can’t die without at least raising the matter with him.

  “You spied on me, Dylan,” I start and wish I could lace my voice with more anger. When I first discovered what he’d been up to, I was fucking furious.

  Dylan is either ignoring me or he hasn’t heard me.

  I take a step toward him.

  “Did you hear me? I can’t believe you spied on me and didn’t tell me.”

  Okay, so now I’ve got his attention. He’s turned around. There’s no remorse in his eyes.

  “So?”

  His attention returns to the monitors. One in particular seems to have grabbed his interest.

  Now I’m getting a little angry. I don’t like being dismissed this way.

  Fuck him.

  “You spied on me from all the way up here and all you can say is so? It’s creepy, and it’s wrong. I don’t understand it. I just…” I trail off.

  Was there any use in this?

  “Look, babe.” He barely looks at me as he’s speaking. “I needed to keep an eye on you, make sure you’re safe. How else was I going to do that other than to install cameras at your place and watch you?”

  The way he puts it, it sounds perfectly reasonable. Still, I feel a little shiver run down my back at the thought of him watching me. And if he was watching me, how do I know the others—the bad dudes—haven’t been watching too?

  I try and push those unsettling thoughts out of my mind. With death imminent, it fucking doesn’t matter anymore, does it?

  “Look, babe.”

  Dylan must have taken my silence as withdrawal and a build up of anger because he’s standing next to me and has put his arm around me.

  “I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I had to leave. But I also had to keep you safe. The last thing I wanted was for harm to come to you. I had no other motivation for installing the camera in your house. I swear.”

  He kisses me on the top of my head and turns to go back to those blasted screens. I hold onto him. I don’t want to let him go.

  I can’t believe I’m going to fucking die down here, and it has all been a waste. Couldn’t we have done something to make sure the bad guys don’t win?

  And how the fuck does this work anyway? Aren’t the good guys the ones who come out the winners? In our case, why are the bad guys going to get away with it? Not only are they getting away with fucking unlawful logging practices, they are also getting away with fucking murder.

  I mean if they kill us, no one will ever know it was murder.

  No one will probably even investigate the deaths. As far as I’m aware, not one single soul knows Dylan is up here, except for the dudes who want me and him dead, and they’re not going to tell any one, are they?

  Bleakness settles over me. My fingers are digging into his arm.

  “Babe,” his eyes find mine.

  Weakly, I smile.

  “I guess it makes sense.” I take a deep breath in. “But it was all for nothing, wasn’t it? I mean here they are, they’ve found us, and now it’s all over. What’s that saying—you can run but you can’t hide?”

  Dylan lifts his great big powerful hand and strokes my cheek. I nuzzle into his fingers. All that power useless against the evil forces out there right now. Not even my strong bear man can defeat these dudes.

  A tear rolls down my cheek, and his thumb wipes it away.

  “Don’t cry, Emma,” his voice is soft and caresses me all over. My insides melt, and I throw my arms around him.

  He returns the embrace.

  “You know,” I whisper into his ear and let my hand travel down his back toward his ass. “We should make the most of these last few minutes we’ve got together. We don’t want to go wasting our time with anything useless.”

  His lips caress my neck and his mouth finds my ear lobe. I can feel him suck on it. Tiny electric shock waves pulse through me. My hands are now on his front and I can feel his massive bulge. If this is to be the last few minutes of life, I know what I want to be doing.

  Dylan’s lips move away from my neck and find my mouth again. We melt into one another.

  “I’m pleased you rescued me,” I whisper when he pulls away. His hands are under my shirt and have found my tits.

  I arch my back and push my hips and tits toward him. He responds. There’s a hint of a smile around his lips. Cool air assaults my skin when his hand exposes my upper body.

  His lips move toward my tits and nipples.

  Pinhead size goosebumps run across my flesh as I feel his warm breath on me. I want him to take me now, hard, and fast. We don’t have much time.

  I want to make the fucking most of it.

  Of course, I’ve got lots of regrets. But I know one thing for sure: I don’t want to fucking die and regret not fucking Dylan one last time.

  His hands are running along my back, and I’m desperately trying to free his fucking cock. I want to wrap my fingers around it and if there’s time, I want to put him in my mouth.

  Before I get the chance Boss jumps up on my legs and distracts me. Of course, the baby bear. How could I forget my precious little baby?

  I bend down to reassure and pat the furry creature.

  “I’m sorry we’re going to let you and your poor mum down,” I nuzzle my face into his fur.

  For a few minutes, I stay close to the bear. Now, I’m torn between giving comfort to Boss and wanting to fuck Dylan.

  Choices.

  Life was fucking like that, wasn’t it? Full of choices? Choices are highly overrated as far as I’m concerned, and we spent too much time working out what to choose, and in the end, we may not even choose wisely.

  Briefly, I think back to my days in the city when I’d spend hours deciding what to have for lunch at the same takeaway cafe I went to every single day. There were so many choices. And when I finally made my decision, I still wasn’t finished choosing.

  The little Asian woman would then want to know if I wanted white, grain, or wholemeal or gluten free bread, butter or no butter, salt or pepper, and last but not least, in a bag or with a serviette.

  I sigh and pick Boss up to go back to kissing Dylan.

  “Emma,” Dylan’s voice snaps me out of my navel-gazing.

  With the bear in my arms. I give him my full attention. So okay, we won’t be able to have a farewell fuck, but I can’t abandon the little fellow in these last few minutes of life.

  “It’s okay,” murmurs Dylan and strokes my face.

  Now tears gush down my cheeks.

  “I—” The words won’t come out. Actually, I don’t really know what I should say to him.

  “There’s no need to worry,” Dylan says and leans forward to give me another kiss.

  When he draws back and turns his attention back to the monitors, I try and make sense of his words.

  “What…okay…”

  I can’t understand why he’s so calm.

  “Here,” he points to one of the monitors. “Here’s our escape route. I’ve got a plan. We’re not going to die. Like I said before, at least not today.”

  I hear the words, but they’re not sinking in.

  Plan. Escape. Not die today.

  Escape route, what did he mean by escape route? It takes my brain ages to unscramble the message in the words.

  My eyes zero in on what he’s pointing to. There’s a maze of underground tunnels.

  “I just need to make sure we come out where we can get out. With this fucking amount of snow around, some of the exits get covered up. But I’m pretty sure this one,” he points to one of the end points of a tunnel, “this one is okay. It opens up into a cave, and so it’s protected from the snow.”

  Understanding refuses to set in. A cocktail of emotions is washing over me.

  Safe. I’m not going to die. We’re not going to die.

  My joy is short lived. So we’re not going to die in the fire, but fact is the bad dudes are still out there,
and they’ve got fucking guns.

  Just the thought of them makes my heart beat faster and fear takes a hold of me once again.

  Dylan

  I stare at the screens.

  It’s fucking risky, but it’s got to be done. Sure, we can stay in here—but then what? The cabin is on fire. and it’ll take a while for the heat to subside for us to exit the way we came in.

  What’s more, I want to get the fuckers who are doing this to Emma, to us.

  We need to get out, and I need to go after them and stop them.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Emma. It seems to finally be sinking in that we’re not going to die in this room. Although she still looks a bit, I don’t know, overwhelmed.

  I guess it’s a lot to take in. One minute, we’ve had the most amazing fuck, and the next, she stumbles upon my secret lair and spy equipment.

  Pity I don’t keep more stuff stocked up down here. A bit of food, water, spare clothes, and weapons would come in really fucking handy right now.

  But of course, over time, I let my guard down. Never let your guard down, first rule of combat. And what the fuck had I done?

  Not to worry. I rummage around the drawers and shelves in the hope of finding something useful. A stick of dynamite would be fucking awesome. I’ve got visions getting out of our hideout and me running down the mountain to get ahead of these bloodsuckers and throwing a dynamite stick their way. The car would be blown up.

  Sure, the bad guys would not fare too well, but hey, they’ve just killed us. At least that is what they fucking think.

  In one of the drawers, I find a torch. Now here’s something useful.

  “Ready?” I turn to Emma. She is huddled on the bottom step with Boss. The bear can obviously sense the danger and is keeping close to Emma.

  Wide eyed, she stares at me. The light’s on, but no one’s at home.

  “For what?”

  “Action, babe,” I smile at her and stretch out my hand.

  “I don’t—” she stops.

  “We’re going to get out of here and stop those evil men from leaving our mountain.”

  I fucking mean it. Those guys aren’t going to leave us here to die. Justice must be done, one way or another.

  As I’ve been watching the monitors for our way out and thinking on a plan, I realized how evil these men are. They’re prepared to kill not just one, but both of us. All in the name of profit for the fat suckers at the top, not the workers at the bottom of the pile.

  It’s got to stop.

  It sickens me. A punch in the gut from a giant would be no more painful than the realization of what the fuck has happened to the business I once helped build up. Those at the top will go to any lengths to make sure their yearly wage stays in the eight-figure margin.

  How much does one person really need? Once you have a few million, do you need to keep making more and more? And when do you stop?

  “But how?” Emma slowly gets to her feet. Boss is hanging on tight and doesn’t want be put on the ground.

  “I’ve got a plan, babe,” I explain. “But first, let’s get out of here.”

  I take her by the hand and lead her to the very back of the room, where I move a silver filing cabinet out of the way.

  Behind it is another door. This one is hobbit-sized. I open it and crawl through it.

  In my right hand, I’m holding the torch. Once I’m through, I stand up and light the way for Emma.

  When she’s through, I go and shut the door again. Old habits die-hard. I don’t want someone to find us, should they get into my secret lair. You never know.

  I attach a lock and am doubly sure that, at the very least, I’ll have considerably slowed down anyone stupid enough to follow us.

  “What’s this place?” Emma asks, and I see her pivot on her heals.

  “Think of it as the centre of a maze,” I explain. “There are four different ways to leave from here. Each one comes out at a different spot, depending on the reason for the quick exit strategy.”

  Emma shakes her head. “You planned for these guys to come here and kill you?”

  “No. I built these exit ways just in case something happens. You’ve got be prepared for all kinds of eventualities,” I explain and take her by the hand.

  “Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

  The walk is no picnic in the park. Our path is narrow, damp, and in places, we have to duck right down. Baby bear has to come to terms with having to walk himself.

  Emma doesn’t complain once, and I stop occasionally to check on her and make sure she’s okay.

  It’s been a while since I’ve taken any of my emergency exit tracks, and I can’t recall how long before we’ll get to the cave where this particular path ends.

  On and on, we walk.

  “Are you sure we’re on the right track?” Emma asks and stops. She sounds a little out of breath.

  I don’t want to alarm her, and so I nod.

  “Of course, Em,” I inject all the confidence into those words I can muster.

  Truth is, I’m starting to fucking worry myself. Did I make a mistake? Is this a path with no end, simply leading us deeper and deeper into the mountain?

  It’s possible, but not likely.

  “Won’t be much longer,” I promise and move on.

  Behind me, I hear Emma follow before there’s another sound.

  The sound of her footstep stops, and before I turn around, I know she’s fallen.

  “Emma,” I call out and rush to her side. “You okay? Say something.”

  “Something,” mutters Emma and tries to sit up.

  “Funny, ha ha.” I shine the torch over. “Where are you hurt?”

  “Everywhere.”

  She wipes dirt out of her face, and Boss stares at her with big brown eyes.

  “Can you stand? What happened?”

  I grab beneath her arms and lift her up. She grimaces when her left foot touches the ground.

  “I think it’s my ankle.”

  She stares at it.

  “Let me take a look.”

  I bend down to take her foot gently out of the boot. Instantly, I can see the swelling and the bruising.

  “Looks like a sprain.”

  “With the dim light, I tripped over something,” Emma explains and leans against me.

  “I can carry you.” I offer. It will be difficult, but somehow I’ll manage.

  “I’m fine,” Emma insists and starts to limp off.

  Boss is hot on her heels.

  “I’ll stay behind you this time.”

  I shine the torch ahead of us.

  Where the fuck is the exit? Surely, it must be around here somewhere. How long have we been walking? Maybe fifteen minutes?

  If only I didn’t take my watch off, we’d not only have the time, but a compass as well.

  I sigh. Fucking bastards.

  I decided to start counting to five hundred, and if we haven’t reached the exit point by then, I’ll have to go to plan B.

  Right now, I’ve got no fucking idea what plan B is, but hey, there’s always a plan B.

  By the time I’m at four hundred and sixty five, I’m starting to worry. When I get to five hundred, I shake my fucking head.

  Something’s wrong.

  “I can see it,” shouts Emma, and I look up. Sure enough, a faint light is ahead of us. Emma even manages to up her speed a little, limp faster and Boss has found his confidence again and is leaping ahead of us toward the outside.

  “What are you doing?” Emma looks at me as I prepare to leave her here.

  “I’m going to go after them and stop them once and for all.”

  I turn to her. I don’t hide my fucking worry.

  “You can’t.” She’s starting to sound hysterical. “They’ve got guns, Dylan. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Emma starts sobbing.

  I walk up to her and grab her by the shoulders. My right index finger lifts her chin so she’s got to look at me. “You’re no
t going to lose me.”

  Emma sobs and sniffs. “Promise?”

  I nod. “Promise.”

  My mouth finds hers. We melt into each other, and I can feel her fingernails dig into my arms. Like someone drowning, she’s clutching onto me for dear life.

  When I pull back, tears stream down her face.

  “I love you,” she whispers. I wipe away her tears.

  “I love you, too.”

  For a moment, we stand there and stare at each other. Briefly, for about a microsecond, I’m thinking of abandoning my mission to go after these guys and stay here with Emma. But what would that achieve? Absolutely fucking nothing.

  Once they find out we’re not dead, they’ll go after us again.

  “I’ll be careful,” I whisper and turn to go. “You and Boss stay here.”

  I feel her eyes on me all the way out of the cave and long after I can’t see her anymore.

  Emma

  If he thinks I’m seriously going to stay here while he goes and gets himself killed, he’s wrong. There’s no way I’m going to listen to what he told me. I mean, I don’t know what the fuck he’s got in mind, but I’ll make sure I’m there, even if only as an eye witness.

  I bite my lip and start to limp after him. Boss, of course, is hot on my heels.

  Dylan is just ahead of me. He pays me no attention. He’s totally focused on getting to those guys who very nearly killed us.

  Actually, as far as they’re concerned, they did kill us. The thought unsettles me.

  It occurs to me how close to dying we’d come. If I hadn’t meandered around the house because of being unable to sleep, things might be different now.

  At this thought, a shiver runs down my spine.

  Life and death, a finite balance, a constant struggle.

  There’s no time for daydreaming. I need to keep moving. Dylan is getting ahead of me, and if I lose sight of him, I’m fucked out here.

  Of course, since it stopped snowing, I can see his tracks. I have no idea where he’s going, but I do my best to ignore the throbbing pain in my ankle and follow as quickly as I can.

  Within no time at all, my lungs are ready to explode. If he doesn’t stop soon, I might pass out.

  Hot fire is ripping through my muscles. How much longer I can sustain this pace is anyone’s guess.