Afterward, they lazed in the pool, watching as evening fell over the resort, candle light and flaming torches on the beach across the water. Jess rested her arms on the side of the pool and sighed happily. ‘This is actual heaven,’ she said and Theo smiled, kissing her temple.
‘I’m glad you think so…you know we can stay as long as you want. Forever would suit me.’
She half-smiled at him. ‘I think your family and Max might object. Also your business colleagues.’
Theo shrugged. ‘I could sell the business.’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘You’re not serious.’
‘Deadly.’
She pushed away from the side of the pool and face him, studying his eyes. ‘Theo…you’re being crazy. You’d get bored and that’s no good for any relationship. You’d get so tired of me around all the time.’
It was his turn to look startled. ‘Would never happen.’
She touched his arm. ‘It’s a lovely gesture but unrealistic. We need to build a life from what we have, not start over. We’d always be waiting for it to start. You have your work and when we get back, I want to start back at the Foundation full-time. We have the wedding soon too. Let’s just enjoy this as the vacation we planned.’
He was quiet for a time then nodded. ‘You’re right.’ He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against her shoulder. Jess nuzzled his neck but a thread of anxiousness was spiraling through her stomach. She wasn’t imagining it, the thing that had been bothering her ever since the morning they had decided to come here.
Theo was different. Changed. And it felt, despite everything he said, everything he did, like he was slipping away from her.
Jules had no trouble getting back into the country, the documents he held superbly and expensively forged. He stayed overnight in a city motel as he figured there was no need to draw attention to himself. The next day, he went out to Whidbey Island and rented a house two miles from Jess and Theo’s home and dressing in his new persona, flannel and jeans, set out to explore the area. He found he could walk to the perimeter of Storm’s property unseen through the woods but as he neared the fence, he could see a security guard pacing around. Jules did a wide circuit of the house. One security guard? That was Storm’s idea of protection? Jules was about to sneer when he realized: they weren’t there. Shit. That meant he’d have to be on the island longer and every day brought him closer to discovery.
Later he drove into town to the small diner and ordered a big lunch. He was halfway through it when he heard his voice. That goddamn fag, Max. He turned halfway to see him walk in with a much older woman with silver hair. They sat immediately behind Jules, which amused him greatly, despite the risk of Max seeing him. They chatted a while of nothing much then the woman cleared her throat and spoke in a soft voice.
‘You know, dear, you don’t have to keep coming to the island. I can easily keep an eye on the house whilst they’re away – unless,’ and she chuckled, ‘…you’re worried Theo has something he really doesn’t want his mother to see.’
Max laughed. ‘You are incorrigible, Amelia. What would that be?’
‘Oh, I don’t know…sex dungeon?’
Max laughed loudly and Amelia joined in. ‘Well, I know what you’ve been reading lately.’ Max said. Jules heard the clink of a coffee cup being out down. ‘But seriously,’ Max continued, ‘It’s no trouble. I’d rather see things for myself, and it’s a good excuse to see you.’
‘Flatterer but I do like seeing you too. I don’t see enough of Theo and Jess – don’t get me wrong, they’re always inviting me over – but I somehow feel that they’d rather be alone. They do seem wrapped up in each other, especially now, after the stabbing.’
Jules grinned into his cup of coffee. Yeah, talk more about that, you fools, if you only knew the man who stabbed your beloved Jess is right behind you…
Max shrugged. ‘Understandable.’
Amelia gave a frustrated sigh. ‘Max darling, be honest, do you think they’re too…I don’t want to use the word obsessed but…’
‘No, I don’t. I swear, Amelia, if you knew what being truly obsessed is…obsessed is what got Jess stabbed and nearly killed, obsessed is being raped over and over by your creep of a step-brother, obsessed is living in fear of your life for almost half your life. Theo and Jess have that kind of love that most of us are lucky to see. I had it, you had it once too.’
Amelia muttered her ascent but Jules, his fingers gripping his cup tightly, calmed himself at Max’s words. Fucking bastard – what the hell did he know?
‘When are they back?’
‘Next week, Tuesday, I think. Jess says she wants to go back to work but we have a wedding to plan so I’m hoping to persuade her to stay home for a month or so.’
Max laughed. ‘Good luck with that.’
Later, as they left, Jules was outside waiting in his car. He watched as Amelia Storm got into her Mercedes and, leaving a reasonable distance, followed her across the island. After an hour, she pulled up to an impressive house. A man nodded to her and got into her car as Amelia ascended the stairs to the front door.
Jules watched the house for a while not knowing why he had followed the woman. She’d given him enough good information in the diner. Theo and Jess were away as he’d thought – and he would bet a million bucks that whatever Theo and his cronies had done to Malcolm, Jess didn’t know about it.
Maybe it was time she did.
There were dark clouds over the islands and at first Jess couldn’t understand where they’d come from. She was standing on the deck of the villa and the breeze was cold against her bare skin, making her shiver.
‘I can make you warm, baby…’
She turned at the sound of his voice, smiling but the joy turned to horror. Theo aimed a gun at her. Confusion.
‘Theo? What are you doing…?’
The first bullet made a whooshing sound and smashed into her belly, right through her navel. She gasped at the pain, looking down to see blood start to pour from the wound when a second, an inch higher, hit her. ‘No, no….’
Theo was laughing. ‘I told you I’d make you warm, hot…’ He shot her again, walking towards her. Jess wondered why she didn’t fall or clutch at her wounds but she just stood there, taking one bullet after another. When Theo reached her, he pressed the cold muzzle against her skin, pulling the trigger so many time it was impossible…no gun would hold that many bullets….is this a dream? Am I dead? God, someone help me, wake me….
Cold. Something slimy passed over her skin. A fist was being jammed down her throat and she tried to cough, tried to gasp for air but the pressure in her chest, her lungs was unrelenting. She opened her eyes and saw blackness, a flicker of light but mostly dark, oily darkness. She realized what the slimy thing was, what the blackness was. Water.
She was drowning.
She struggled, tried to make her arms move, to propel her body upwards, out of the water but something seemed to be holding her down. Her mouth, her nose filled with water and now she began to panic, her lungs, her stomach filling with choking water. She pushed up desperately and managed to break the surface. The full moon was the only light in the dark night. The black spots in her eyes were back and they swept over her sight, blinding her again. She struggled, wrenched her body upwards but unconsciousness was threatening. She struggled but then one thought kept replaying itself in her mind.
Oblivion took her as, exhausted, shattered and broken, she finally stopped struggling and gave up.
She opened her eye to bright whiteness and a clean, antiseptic smell. Unfamiliar surroundings. A hospital. She moved her head and saw Theo at the window. Jess struggled into a sitting position before saying his name. He looked around, strain obvious in his eyes.
‘How do you feel?’ Clipped, distant.
‘Theo, what am I doing here?’
Theo sat on the bed and sighed. ‘You decided to go for a little midnight swim. I think you were sleepwalking, so do
the docs, because I know, I know, you’re not stupid enough to swim in the ocean alone at night.’
She raised her eyebrows at his harsh tone. ‘Theo…of course not. Why the hell would you think that?’
His eyes were hard. ‘And it wasn’t…anything else?’
She was getting irritated now. ‘Like what?’ Then she realized and her whole body relaxed. ‘God, Theo, no. It wasn’t on purpose if that’s what you mean.’ She reached out to him but he drew away, not looking at her.
‘You were just floating there. You’d given up. I thought…Jesus, Jess, I thought I’d lost you. Again.’
She slid out of bed and went to hold him, pulling his head onto her chest. ‘Theo…never. I would never do that.’ She tilted his head up so he could see her and tried to smile. ‘Too many other people are trying to kill me, why would I do it myself? That’s just poor time management.’
‘Don’t joke. I thought you were dead.’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, I had a nightmare…’
She trailed off as the nightmare came screeching back. Theo. Shooting her. Theo. She shivered and then it was his turn to tighten his grip. ‘What? What is it?’
She tried to swallow the stone that seemed lodged in her throat. ‘Nothing. Stupid subconscious. Never gives me dreams about a threesome with you and Beyonce, does it?’
Theo smiled then. ‘Nice to know who I can expect a threesome with.’
She nodded sagely. ‘No woman would turn down Beyonce, straight or gay. It is writ.’
He laughed. ‘’It is writ’?
She grinned and looked around the room. ‘Where are we?’
‘Medical centre on Male.’
Jess sighed. ‘I honestly feel fine…can we go?’
Theo hesitated. ‘Maybe we should wait for the doctor.’
Jess flexed her shoulders in irritation. ‘You know what, let’s not. She slid out of the bed and grabbed the bag of her stuff Theo had obviously brought with him. She went into the little bathroom to dress, closing the door behind her. She couldn’t figure why she was so irritated. She dressed quickly, avoiding her reflection in the mirror over the sink.
Scratch that, she did know. It was all the crap followed them everywhere. All she had done was slept-walked for Christ`s sake and Theo was acting…god. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. No. This was an accident. She didn’t want the rest of their vacation to be tainted, like everything else, by fear, stress, a tense atmosphere.
She pulled open the door and smiled brightly at Theo. ‘Ready when you are.’
Theo gazed at her for a long moment with an expression she couldn’t read them, eventually, held out his hand to her.
‘Let’s go home.’
Jules stood on the bridge, staring down at Deception Pass, glinting with the last rays of the sun. He’d walked across the island in the hope it would alleviate some of his frustration at having to wait for Jessica to return home. His fingers, his hands, all of his limbs ached to be touching her, hurting her. He would sometimes, late at night, open his mouth as wide as it would go and scream, silently, into the darkness.
He looked down at the cold waters below. Sometimes he wanted to jump, no, no not even that that, fall, freefall into the depths, tumble. Let his limbs go weak, let the filthy water stream through his nostrils, his mouth, batter his eyes from their sockets. Dissolve. Even when he hit the bottom, to suck up the bed, bore into the earth. Disappear. So easy, so final. But then she would be left here, in the world and he could not let that happen. She would be with him soon and he would finally be at peace, bathing in her blood, watching her breathe her last breath. This time, she would not survive. And afterward…hell, he didn’t care if he never escaped, he’d rather die alongside her. The thought was strangely freeing.
He flexed his hands. He needed to feel something, needed a release. Not here. He turned around and walked back to his house. The evening was falling as he changed clothes and drove down to the ferry terminal. He would spend the night in the city, find an alternative, a Jess-like victim and he would sate his thirst.
Jess woke up later than usual, fuzzy-headed. She got up, went into the bathroom to splash water on her face. Yesterday had been tense, strained. They'd barely spoken, retreating into their own spaces and for the first time they hadn’t made love before falling asleep. She was still annoyed with him. She loathed it when he treated her like some precious little child who could not look after herself. Deep inside, she knew, and understood, why he behaved like that but it still irritated her. It was times like this when she cursed her lack of independence. She felt guilty at the thought. She shook her head and swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a few minutes, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, trying to ignore a headache banging around the back of her skull. She grabbed her kimono from the bottom of the bed and wrapping it around herself, padded barefoot out of the bedroom.
She walked through the villa, peeking into each room until she found Theo, out on the deck. She stood and watched him for a while, his intense stare locked somewhere in the middle distance, his jaw flexing with tension. He wore the navy blue t-shirt she loved on him, khaki shorts. His dark short hair was damp; he must have been swimming. She walked silently behind him and ran her arms down his, kissing his temple.
‘Hey handsome.’
He’d started a little when she’d touched him but now he pulled her onto his lap, smoothing his hands over her face, drawing her hair back away from it. She smiled and kissed him, felt his hands slip into her robe and onto her bare belly. His eyes, so often troubled nowadays, were softer, heavy with desire.
‘You know, I kinda wish this wasn’t our last day here,’ he said, stroking his hands up and down her bare skin, ‘I could get used to this.’
She silenced him with a kiss. Her mouth against his, her hands snaking down the front of his shorts to stroke his cock, her feather-light touch on the sensitive skin making Theo groan. She grinned and slid to her knees, taking his cock into her mouth, pushing his shorts away so she could fist her hand around the base of it, pulling gently, urging the blood to fill it as her tongue flicked around the ultra-sensitive tip. She was gratified by the sharp hiss Theo sucked through his teeth as she teased him, could taste the sharp salty tang of his pre-ejaculate on her tongue.
‘Jesus, Jess…’ He was breathless but she didn’t relent, stroking and sucking until his cock was so ramrod hard, she felt him tangle his fingers in her hair, pulling at it as he groaned and bucked under her, his semen rushing in hot, long spurts into her welcoming mouth. She’d barely finished tonguing him when he lifted her and bent her backward over the table, knocking his coffee cup to the decking with a crash. Jess grinned up at him as he used his knee to spread her legs then rammed his cock deep into her cunt. Theo bit down on her neck, her shoulders, squeezing her breasts, biting down on the small pink nipples until she was panting and writhing beneath him.
‘Tell me what you want, Jessie…tell me how you want it…’
‘Hard…harder…more…fucking rip me in two, Theo….’ She arched her body up and he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, still impaled on his cock and carried her inside. They didn’t make it to the bedroom, instead tumbling to the wooden floor.
Jess clawed and fought with him as he fucked her, both of them laughing and growling in equal measure. Plowing deep into her soft, warm wetness, Theo drove himself until he heard her cry of pain then her don’t stop, don’t stop….please….
He pulled out and came on her belly, the thick white streams of cum streaking over her beautiful body. She shuddered and came as he massaged the sticky fluid into her skin, feeling her whole body vibrating with pleasure. Looking up, he saw the little box of toys they had brought with them. He caught Jess’s eye and she smiled, nodded and he reached over and grabbed the box, pushing the top off.
‘Hmm…what can I do you to you now, wife to be?’
Jess, her gorgeous body still undulating as she caught her
breath, looked at him, a wicked smile playing around that lush, bruised mouth. ‘What if…we switch it up?’ Without even looking, she stuck her hand into the box and pulled out the dildo…the strap-on-dildo.
Theo raised his eyebrows. ‘You want to fuck me, baby girl?’
Jess grinned. ‘Hell, yes. I do…get on your stomach, boy, I’m in charge now.’
‘Fair’s fair,’ Theo said and kissed her before laying down flat on his belly, his trust in her absolute, no doubt in his mind. How many times had she trusted him to go there? It wasn’t something he’d experienced with anyone else…then again there were a lot of things he’d experienced with Jess that he never had before. He grinned and told her what he was thinking.
Jess laughed. ‘You bet your sweet ass…in fact, you are betting your sweet ass.’ Theo chuckled then sucked in a breath as she reached down between his legs and massaged his balls gently, pressing the tip of her middle finger deep against his perineum. ‘Damn, Jessie….hey….before we go any further…can I persuade you to slip into that little leather harness?’
He felt her kiss his ear. ‘You got it.’ It took her less than thirty seconds and then he felt her weight on the back of his thighs again, her hand on his cock. She kissed the back of his neck then ran her tongue down the length of his spine to the top of his ass. He felt a warm liquid against his skin – oil, he guessed, because she moved her hands up and down his back, working his muscles. She was trying to relax him, he knew, and he leaned his head on his arms and closed his eyes, letting himself feel every sensation. Her hands worked up and down until, at last, one hand slipped into his crack, working massage oil into the deep crevice and caressing his cock and balls which pulsed and quivered under her touch. When, at last, he felt the tip of the dildo push into his anus, he was so relaxed that as she slid into him so slowly, so gently, all he felt was immense pleasure as the dildo massaged him and he felt Jess rocking gently above him, softly moaning, obviously enjoying it as much as he was.
The Billionaire Bad Boy Club: A Bad Boy BDSM Holiday Romance Page 48