Ballistic (A Vigilantes Novel)

by Keri Lake

  Concrete scraped across my spine, adding a twinge of pain as my body slid down the wall, but Dax guided my thighs over his shoulders and held me up.

  Muscles tight, I watched the silhouettes of the buildings turn darker, the clouds duskier, and the sun eventually disappeared over the horizon, until only faint rays shot up from behind buildings.

  And with the sunset, something darker unfurled.

  Dax’s mouth turned voracious, sucking, licking, teeth nipping at my sensitive flesh, and the groans and moans that vibrated in his throat had my thighs trembling. He consumed me like an animal that’d been starved for too long—one that ate solely for it’s survival and nothing else.

  The quiver in my muscles heightened, and I imagined steel strings pulling tighter and tighter. I needed to hold onto something. I needed to sit down. I wanted to push him away and pull him into me. My entire body turned chaotic in an effort to stave off the impending crash, but Dax wouldn’t relent.

  More, my body commanded, as if it’d never felt the punishing blows of enjoying too much.

  His tongue, his fingers, every part of him stoked the frenzy inside of me.

  I was frantic, desperate to keep going, keep climbing up the slope, which seemed steeper and steeper, the closer I edged toward the peak.

  Until I hit the crest, and my whole body seized as my muscles went haywire, stretching and pulling in different directions. Nerves ready to burst, I focused on that ball of fire behind my eyelids, pulsing and growing with his suckling, until it exploded inside of me. I threaded my fingers through his hair and bit my lip, surrendering to whatever had built up within me, and at the final flick of his tongue, I cried out in the surrounding darkness.

  Screamed.

  My voice echoed back with a harrowing sort of pleasure. Something I’d never heard before. Every muscle pulsed in celebration, as the orgasm slammed through me in waves of pure ecstasy.

  Face still buried between my thighs, Dax shook his head, his beard tickling my sensitive flesh, and I jerked in his grasp. Another shot of tingles climbed my spine as he sucked and licked my still throbbing clit, lapping up every bit of me.

  No one had ever teased an orgasm from me that way. What I wouldn’t have given for Tesarik, or Vinco, to watch me right then, to let them seethe with anger as another man brought me to exhilarating climax without drugs, or manipulation. I wanted to throw it in their face and spit at their feet, because the strange sounds caught in my throat, while Dax licked me clean, proved I wasn’t completely damaged.

  He finally pulled his face away, setting me back down on my feet, though I felt too weak to stand. My knees threatened to buckle as I lazily slid my panties and jeans back up my thighs, trying to catch my breath.

  In those seconds, I waited for him to shove me to the ground and cram his cock down my throat, or strike me across the face for having glutted on the pleasure. I knew better, but my muscles stiffened in defense, anyway. It wouldn’t have been wrong for him to want something in return, but he didn’t.

  Instead, Dax pushed to a stand until towering over me, then leaned down and kissed me. “I’ve seen some of the best sunsets in this city, but this, by far, was the most beautiful yet.”

  I kissed him back, letting myself get swept up in the illusion, a fleeting moment of bliss, because for the first time in my life, a man had given me something with no expectation, no consequences for my selfish indulgence.

  And it didn’t take the promise of a drug to know I’d soon want more.

  27

  Dax

  I rounded the car as Nicoleta climbed out on her side, and hoisted her over my shoulder as she pushed the door closed.

  Laughing, she braced her hands against my back and kicked her feet. “Put me down!”

  Arms wrapped around the back of her thighs, I jogged up the stairs to our room, but set her down while I opened the door.

  Toying with a small curl of hair behind her ear, she tapped my knuckles. “Hey, I’m going to have a smoke out here for a minute. Can I bum one?”

  “I’ll have one with you.”

  The smile she’d worn all the way home withered to something somber. “Dax, I just need a minute to think, is all.”

  Frowning, I tipped her chin back so I could see her eyes. “Everything okay?”

  “Definitely okay.” The slight smile returned, seeming genuine, and she kept eye contact with me. “Seriously. I just want to bask in the moment.”

  I glanced around at the remote, empty parking lot and back to her, sliding the pack of smokes from my pocket. Place didn’t get much traffic, and she’d already burned me for hovering like one of Tesarik’s shitheads. I’d never been the kind of guy to smother a woman, but then, I’d never been so goddamn crazy for one, either. “Okay. But you’ll tell me if anything’s wrong, yeah? If I hurt you, somehow.”

  She nodded, slipping her hands down into the pockets of my jeans. Her left hand grazed over my dick, and she smiled, tugging me close and rising up to her tiptoes to kiss me. At the break of the kiss, she waved my lighter in the air, eyes flirting with danger as she lit up her cigarette.

  “I’m going to take a quick shower. Come join me when you’re finished.”

  “Yes, sir.” The wily glint of her gaze put my stomach at ease a bit.

  Another kiss later, I pushed through the door, and made my way toward the bathroom, feeling a buzzing against my chest. From inside my coat pocket, I tugged my cellphone out and clicked on a notification from China. An email opened, and I clicked on the attachments, which popped open to a collection of pages.

  Medical records.

  I glanced back toward the front door, seeing the top of Nicoleta’s head through the sheer curtains, where she sat on the balcony smoking a cigarette. I quietly closed the bathroom door and sat down on the edge of the bathtub, thumbing through the file for Eden O’Malley.

  Psychiatric consult performed by Dr. Marquis Jackson at the request of attending physician, Patrick Montcliff, MD.

  Chief Complaint: Amnesia after patient stabbed mother’s boyfriend

  Patient is a fifteen-year-old Caucasian female taken into custody by police following an attack against her mother’s boyfriend at approximately 22:00 two days prior. She claims to have no memory of the actual events. Her mother called paramedics, who arrived to find the patient unconscious on the floor. Patient arrived to ER, conscious, presenting with dizziness, nausea, and multiple bouts of vomiting. Noted to be in shock. She reports depression on and off. Experiences excessive energy at times, with racing, irritability and reckless activity. She states that she has difficulty falling asleep with daytime fatigue. No known history of previous psychiatric disorder. Will review progress notes from Crestwood. Denies regular use of recreational drugs but admits she has occasionally smoked cigarettes. Denies delusions or hallucinations, obsessive thoughts or compulsive rituals. Past medical history includes hospitalization one year prior, on September 10th, 2014. During that admission, patient was transferred to pediatric ICU, suffering from suicidal ideation, as well as burns and disseminated bruising. At the time, her mother claimed she had run away from home and appeared to have been attacked while living on the streets. Patient was discharged to Crestwood Institute with no recollection of the events that had taken place just prior to her admission. Examination performed in consultation with the nurse practitioner, K.S. Lippincott and social worker T.L. Henderson.

  HEENT: normocephalic, PERRL, TM intact, oropharynx red, swollen, neck supple. Piercings noted in ears.

  Social history: Patient is a fourteen year old girl who attends high school in Detroit. No drugs. Previous attempts at suicide.

  Family history: Father left the home when patient was seven years old. No known comorbidities. No medications. Mother has history of alcohol abuse, CAD.

  Vitals: 37.9, pulse 76, RR: 16, BP: 115/ 75, O2 sat: 97 RA

  Observer notes bilateral bruising of arms and legs, as well as multiple lacerations across thighs. Vertical scars along forearm indicate
previous attempted suicide.

  Prior consultation postponed as patient was crying, refusing to be examined, and several bouts of lashing out at staff noted in progress notes following a shower, during which the patient appeared to have suffered a panic attack. Social worker Henderson has spoken with her. Patient agrees to be seen at this time.

  Patient’s appearance upon arrival noted to be unkempt and disheveled. Mood and affect through most of the examination is flat and blunted with only occasional eye contact. Alert and oriented x3. She claims to have no recollection of the attack against her mother’s boyfriend. When asked about her relationship with him, she becomes defensive to the use of the word, ‘relationship’. When asked about her prior hospitalization, patient refuses to discuss the events. Mood and affect appear to be much more exaggerated and hostile, a very pronounced change in patient’s behaviors. Will continue to follow patient’s progress.

  I flipped on the shower, tossing my phone onto the bathroom sink, wishing I could punch the shit out of something. Just reading about the girl was enough to twist my stomach inside out. I couldn’t even imagine Nicoleta, having stumbled upon a video like the one she’d told me about. Watching those cocksuckers rape and murder her, then dump her body.

  Livvie’s had set me off on an impulsive rampage, and all I remembered about it was the blood on my hands and an intense appetite for more.

  At the thump of the front door, I stripped out of my clothes and stepped inside the shower, letting the hot water run across my skin. I flinched, thinking about the burn marks on her flesh, and though I didn’t know the girl, the anger swelling inside of me didn’t feel unwarranted, or irrational.

  It felt kindred.

  I’d suffered burns, the deep scarring sears of the finest cigars. I’d heard the crackle of my own skin beneath the unforgiving heat, and had worn my fair share of bruises.

  Palms plastered to the tiles, I didn’t hear the bathroom door click, but as Nicoleta’s hands came from behind, brushing across my stomach, I twitched at her touch. Gripping her arm, I let her rest her head against my back, where she kissed the spot close to my spine that marked a stab wound where my foster dad had tried to kill me and failed. Twisting around to face her, I lifted her naked body up into my arms and turned so the warm water hit her back. Water slicked across where her pussy pressed into my stomach, and I backed her against the wall, rolling my hips to spread her all over my skin.

  Her muscles tightened as I gripped the bottom of her thighs and pressed my lips to hers, tasting her. Arms wrapped around my shoulders, she locked her feet together behind my back.

  “Dax,” she whispered. “I was thinking … what if you and I run away together?”

  “What do you mean? Leave Detroit?”

  “Yeah. We can go out west. Live in the mountains.” She smiled and leaned forward to kiss my throat. “We’ll be mountain people.”

  “I’m more of a beach guy. Ocean breeze, good music, beer in my hand, and you on my lap.” I kissed her again, digging my fingers into her thighs. “You still have one more on your list, though, yeah?”

  “Yes. There’s one more, but—”

  “I’ll help you. I’m with you ‘til the end of this.”

  Gaze cast downward, she frowned. “Why?”

  “We’re a team.” I rested my forehead against hers. “Me and my vicious little lynx.”

  “I’ll still tell you where to find Tesarik. Even if you don’t help me.”

  I shook my head, refusing to consider something so ridiculous. Having read that medical record gave me a little more insight into her friend. More reason to make things right. “I’m not letting you do this alone, Nic.”

  “And what happens at the end?”

  The same question that’d been spinning inside my head all night. I didn’t know what would happen at the end of it. I’d have liked to believe that Nicoleta and I would ride off to Mexico together and leave all the shit behind us, but I knew better. You didn’t wage war with a dangerous criminal and walk away unscathed.

  I shrugged, nabbing the showerhead from behind her, letting the massaging pulses beat down her back and across her ass. “Sometimes you just gotta live in the moment.”

  “You should write fortune cookies, you know that?”

  I chuckled, playfully spraying her in the face with the water.

  Instead of laughing, though, she gasped and coughed water into my face. She kicked her head to the side and wheezed.

  Streaks of pain skated down my back. Nicoleta tucked her head into my neck, her limbs tightening around me, and I could feel her body trembling.

  “Hey, what’s going on? Nic?” Slammed with remorse, I hung the sprayer back up and tipped my head to try to see her face. What I could see of her had taken on an ashy pallor, as though she’d begun to go into shock. “Talk to me, baby. What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head, still tucked against me, and I flipped off the water. With her small naked body clinging to mine, I exited the shower and nabbed a towel from the rack over the sink, wrapping it around her.

  Shit, I had no idea a little water in her face could trigger a reaction like that.

  Strange, since Nicoleta had seemed okay showering up until that point.

  I carried her across the room to the bed, where I set her down, and within seconds, the color returned to her skin. Dragging the sheet over her body, I knelt down beside her and brushed the hair from her face. “Hey, you wanna tell me what that was all about?”

  Smile flat and unconvincing, she shook her head. “I’m okay. Really.”

  “That didn’t look okay. Looked like I hit a trigger, or something.”

  “You did.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head again. “It’s stupid.”

  “Try me.”

  “We had a … neighbor when I was younger, who liked to chase me with the hose and spray me in the face. Guess some things just stick with you.”

  No. She seemed too at ease with that story. I’d been around enough girls with triggers to know it took more prodding than that. And most times, they couldn’t even pinpoint what had caused the trigger. Usually something they couldn’t remember.

  I wasn’t buying it, but I wasn’t pushing it, either. The girl had walls thicker than steel and higher than any I’d scaled before. An impenetrable fortress that’d probably kept most men from conquering whatever she hid on the other side of it. Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t most men, and I happened to have a criminal history of breaking into places I wasn’t supposed to be. Would only be a matter of time before more things would come to light about her captivity. I had no doubt about that.

  “I’m just going to close my eyes for a bit, if that’s okay?”

  Stroking her hair back one more time, I planted a kiss to her forehead. “Whatever you need, baby.”

  Only took about twenty minutes for her to crash, and as soon as she was out, I threw some pants on and snuck out onto the balcony. I lit up a smoke, tugged my cell from my back pocket, and sent a quick text to China:

  ME: Thanks for the records. Can I ask one more favor?

  The dots on the screen told me she’d begun writing back already.

  CHINA: You don’t have to ask. I’m here to track down whatever you need.

  I’d wondered if China had been through some shit herself. Why else would a chick go to so much trouble for nothing?

  ME: I need to track down a video. Was uploaded to a site in the badlands.

  CHINA: Gonna need more info than that.

  ME: Snuff. Guys wearing pig masks. Girl drowned in the video. Afraid that’s all I have.

  CHINA: I’ll look around. Might have to get a friend’s help on this one. Sit tight.

  ME: It’s supposed to be bad. Just thought I’d warn you.

  CHINA: Aren’t they all? Talk soon.

  ME: Thanks

  I took a long drag and blew the smoke upward, watching it dissolve into the night. Made me think how easily girls in the dark web disappeared. Faded into stories mothers
told their daughters to keep them from doing stupid shit.

  Never heard from again.

  Maybe it’d only been coincidence that Nicoleta had reacted that way to the water. Could’ve had more to do with the act itself than the water, I reminded myself. Like an aversion to surprises, or heat on her face. I’d once dated a girl who flipped out over the scent of Murphy Oil because it reminded her of the times her old man made her scrub the church pews when she was bad.

  I finished my cigarette, tossed it into the designated cup we’d set out, and headed back inside.

  While Nicoleta lay asleep, I shed my pants and crawled into bed next to her. Small tremors still wracked her body, but less than before. Without disturbing her, I positioned myself along her back, slinked my arm around her body, and closed my eyes.

  Couldn’t tell if I’d actually fallen into sleep, or not, when a scream echoed inside my head. Eyes flipped open, I lay disoriented for a moment, double-blinking against the surrounding darkness, until the dull white ceiling came into view. Whimpers drew my attention toward the foot of the bed, and I sat up, finding Nicoleta curled up in the corner of the room, her pale, naked body glowing in the darkness. With her knees bent into her chest, she looked like a frightened animal. No doubt, another nightmare in play.

  Slowly, so as not to startle her, I slid over the edge of the bed and crept toward her, noticing her eyes screwed shut and her hands covering her ears.

  “Nic? What’s going on?”

  “Shhhh.” She removed her hands from her ears and scanned the room. “They’ll hear you,” she whispered, leaning forward as though looking for someone.

  Made my skin crawl every time she had an episode.

  “Who?”

  While frantically shaking her head, she whispered something I couldn’t make out. For about thirty seconds, that went on, until I got down on all fours and reached out to touch her hand.

  She stilled.

  Her eyes popped open. Her body no longer trembling, and she frowned, lowering her hands. “Dax?”