Explicit Memory

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I got that email ten days ago,’ Flick said. ‘He’s been working with Roger for a month; he’s been staying here for two weeks. Antoine orchestrated this.’

  In her rage, Flick tried to shove up, but Rushe got hold of her and slammed her onto her back again. ‘You gonna run into his bedroom, Kitten?’

  ‘He’s using my family as pawns, they should be made aware of—‘

  ‘What did Lucia say?’

  ‘About what?’ she asked.

  ‘You got all that info; you didn’t say nothing about danger?’

  ‘I tried to point out it was odd, but...’

  ‘Their world isn’t like ours,’ Rushe said.

  Nudging her nose to his jaw, she kissed his stubble. Something as simple as acknowledging that they came from the same world highlighted just how far they had come as a couple.

  Flick had once been as naive as her sister was. Declaring to her family that Mercier was a criminal would be met with indignation. The sad fact was, she’d been estranged from her family for close to a year and a half. Flick could never proclaim to be a typical, or respected, member of the Hughes family. Most probably she’d be laughed out of the room if she made such a claim to them.

  The idea of a criminal in their midst was so outlandish it would be impossible, as far as her father was concerned, because he prided himself on being an excellent judge of character. A criminal, in their opinion, looked like Rushe. Though they wouldn’t be far wrong by many definitions.

  ‘So what does he want?’

  ‘Mercier wants to make us wait.’

  ‘Does he know you?’ Flick said. ‘If he thinks he can make you sweat it out, he’s misjudged his opponent.’

  ‘He didn’t know if I’d come here to your parents’ house with you,’ Rushe said. ‘That’s my bet. They didn’t make plans for us, because he can’t anticipate our actions yet.’

  ‘So we wait... until he tells us... until he has a job for us.’

  ‘Not us, me. They don’t know we work together.’

  ‘I’m just your bitch,’ Flick said. ‘Letting them continue to believe that could be useful for us further down the road.’

  Rushe’s arms came around her, clamping her body to his. ‘Let me foresee the problems. Open your legs.’

  She had said sex after talking. ‘What do you want to do to me?’

  ‘My dirty ‘ho, you want me to spell it out?’

  ‘I want you to talk to me,’ she whispered. ‘Tell me about your dick.’

  ‘You love my dick.’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘It’s gonna fill that pussy,’ he said. Taking her hand, he slid it down between her legs. ‘You’re gonna get it all juiced up for me.’

  Rushe had stretched her sexual boundaries until the elastic snapped from the pressure. Now, as she slid the length of her index finger up and down her clit, she was flooded with the power he gave her.

  Shifting to the end of the bed, Rushe grabbed her knees and forced them wide; those bullet eyes of his fastened their sights on her centre.

  ‘Faster,’ he ordered. ‘I wanna hear you moan, Kitten. You stroke my pussy. I want you ready. Your empty little cunt wants to be filled up with my fat cock... that hot little pussy gets so wet when I talk.’

  ‘Yes,’ she breathed.

  ‘I want to glide in. You want my cock in there, you gotta make me want it.’

  Flick increased her pace, recalling every time they’d had sex, and thinking about the solid mass of him widening her to fit him. About the times Rushe had forged into her with such passion and fury. Those memories now made her hips rise into her own caress, and Rushe’s growl proceeded her panting exhale.

  ‘Rushe.’

  ‘Not yet, Kitten. You’re gonna take me hard.’ Her eyes drifted closed when his hand ran down her shin to her foot. Cocking her leg he positioned her foot against his balls, pushing her toes up against his dick.

  ‘I thought about you,’ she whispered. ‘Last night, I was thinking about your cock.’

  His hand slapped hers away from its task. At the moment she opened her eyes, his body braced above her. ‘You touched my pussy?’

  ‘Rushe,’ she exhaled, when she witnessed the raw anger in him.

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘You broke the rules,’ he snarled, his lips remaining completely still.

  Flipping to his back, he lay beside her and scooped his hand under her head. ‘Wrap your lips round my cock.’ A tickling shimmer trickled up her waist to her ribcage. ‘You show me that you’re sorry, suck it.’

  Using his strength, he got her face into his lap and as he pushed her downward, she immediately opened wide to accommodate him. The bold head of his dick reached deep, and she inhaled to let him push further into the confines of her throat. Rushe released his pressure when she took him as far as she could, then he let her draw up and down.

  ‘Eager little slut, you can’t wait to get my dick in your throat.’

  Dipping down she took him in, then sucked him out. Kissing the emerging beads from the tip of him, she worked her hand up and down, letting her eyes drift to his.

  ‘Don’t want your hand, Kit,’ he said, tugging her wrist to remove her extremity. Taking a handful of her hair, he brought her face over his daunting organ. ‘You want it? You want to suck it?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, and opened her mouth to take him. But he raised her head before she could reach him.

  ‘Say it.’

  ‘I want to suck it.’

  ‘What do you want to suck?’ he asked. ‘Look at me.’

  Rolling her eyes upward, she did as she was told. ‘Your dick. I want to suck your dick.’

  ‘When you get my dick in your mouth, you’re gonna suck it like you mean it, show me that you’re sorry. No one touches my pussy without permission.’

  ‘Sorry, sir,’ she said, and on his huffing exhale she knew she had him.

  Rushe released her head, letting her face fall against him. So Flick tasted the length of him with her tongue, circled his head, and sucked him into her mouth again. Up and down she sucked until her cheeks burned.

  Then suddenly, he snatched her hips from the bed and yanked her body around from where she perched at his side to do her work. Flick did her best to keep performing for him while he threw her leg over his shoulder. Now that she straddled his face, he lifted his head from the pillow to kiss her clit.

  Flick whimpered out and her own attention diverted, but he spanked her. ‘This is for my pleasure, slut. You keep working, earn your place at my side.’

  So doing as she was told she kept up her action, but he probed into her with his tongue then flickered over her. ‘Rushe,’ she wheezed out, with her mouth still full of him.

  ‘Your sweet pussy juice, you’re gonna come all over my tongue... You suck my cock into your throat.’

  Closing her eyes, she did just that, and working him with her hand, she fondled his balls, and tried to ignore the awareness growing in her own nether region.

  ‘Rushe,’ she said again, increasing her pace as his tongue moved faster on her and shoved inside. ‘Oh, god!’

  The orgasm enveloped her at the same moment his hot milk sprayed her mouth. With barely any presence of mind, she swallowed, licking the last remnants from him before she flopped onto him, her cheek landing on his groin.

  ‘You’re cruel,’ she whispered with a broad smile.

  ‘Yeah, punishment by orgasm.’ Rushe slapped her ass again.

  ‘I’d have asked permission if I had a way to get in touch with you.’

  ‘If you had a way to get in touch with me, I’d have abandoned the job last night and come here to be with you.’

  The promise of sex always existed between them, but words were as potent as the physical where they were concerned.

  ‘I missed you.’

  ‘You never feel right when we’re not together,’ he said, caressing her legs. ‘Neither do I.’

  That was a hell of an admiss
ion from the man who needed no one. Tipping her head closer, she traced her nose up his length, and down, letting the tip of her tongue join in until she got to his head, and puckering her lips, she kissed him.

  ‘You still hungry?’ he asked.

  ‘Showing my appreciation.’

  ‘He feels appreciated, believe me.’

  Flick’s smile widened and she closed her eyes. ‘I love him. I love you.’

  ‘You sleeping down there? I might get cosy with your pussy again.’

  ‘That’s the hope,’ she sighed.

  His hair tickled her thigh, indicating he’d elevated his head again, and in the next second he enticed her clit through his lips.

  ‘Sweet nectar.’

  Flick snapped her legs down and together, bringing her to an almost kneeling position on his abdomen. ‘I was kidding,’ she smiled.

  Twisting her body around, she tucked her head under his chin and linked their fingers on the bed at his sides. When she closed her legs to nestle between his she deliberately caught his member between her thighs, causing it to fill with blood again.

  ‘Rushe.’

  ‘I’ll give you a five minute break, no more than that,’ he grumbled, greatly put out by the notion that she might want to rest.

  ‘That’s not what I was going to say,’ she said, bringing her head up so she could look him in the eye. ‘You do trust me now, don’t you?’

  ‘With my life.’

  Though Rushe was capable of lying to her, she didn’t see any hint of deception when his eyes remained on hers. They’d been through a lot and nearly lost each other more than once, but he was her priority, now it seemed he could be ready to accept that.

  Chapter Three

  Breakfast in the Hughes house traditionally offered the occupants a chance to reflect on events of the previous night, and to inform everyone else of all plans for the day ahead. Put another way, it served as an opportunity to bitch and boast.

  Much as Flick might have expected Rushe to be hesitant about joining the family around the table, he wasn’t. While traversing the hallway on their way to the breakfast room she tried, and failed, to interlink their fingers. Instead, Rushe hooked her digits into his back pocket, and curled his own hand around the back of her neck to direct her into the room.

  Her father held prominence at the head of the table, flanked by Roger and Antoine. Martin sat facing Lucia and beside his wife, her other sister, Vivian. Beverly was seated opposite, with an empty chair at her side. All of those present silenced and turned to examine her and Rushe when they entered, but her lover didn’t pause for so much as a heartbeat.

  He strode across the room and upon reaching the table, he urged Flick forward, yanked out the chair next to Beverly, sat, and then pulled her down into his lap.

  ‘Good... morning,’ Beverly Hughes managed to say.

  ‘Morning,’ Flick said.

  Rushe’s hand skimmed down her spine to her ass. Scooping his hand underneath, he gave her a boost. ‘Fruit,’ Rushe said.

  Flick stood and bent over the table to reach the dish of fruit salad in the centre of the spread. As she ladled it into one of the individual bowls, Rushe grasped her hips to jerk her ass into his direct line of sight and with his proprietary squeeze, a smile formed on Flick’s lips.

  ‘What does everyone have planned for today?’ Flick asked.

  On scanning the dumbstruck faces at the table, she stuck on Antoine. The European wasn’t amused or shocked, but his astute eyes were fixed on hers. She sat down on Rushe’s thigh and forked a slice of peach into his mouth.

  Something about the act was so sensual that she forgot about Antoine straight away. Rushe had sensed her discomfort, though she wasn’t aware of how he did. His gaze remained glued to hers as he took the fork and tossed it down on the table.

  If Flick had been able to think of anything else, she might have noted that her family had never been so silent. But Rushe parted his lips just enough to give her a silent command.

  Blindly selecting another segment with her fingers, Flick took it up to his mouth. Rushe dipped forward to take both the fruit and her fingertips in the process.

  ‘This is highly irregular, Felicity,’ Charles Hughes declared, breaking the trance between her and her love.

  Turning his head, Rushe planted his glare on her father. Flick pushed the bowl to the table and draped her arms around his neck. But his head moved again and she knew Antoine was getting that same scowl.

  With a sigh, she let her cheek rest on her arm, which remained on his shoulder. Somehow even in this space Rushe had asserted his dominance over every other man. He was the alpha here. Flick would never know how he sized up a room and took control with such ease, but he’d done it again.

  After that encounter with the family they hadn’t lingered over their meal, so it wasn’t much later when Flick was sitting on the end of their bed, stroking her hands down her thighs, and awaiting her love’s re-entry to the bedroom.

  ‘I’m not going to the spa with my sisters,’ Flick called to Rushe, who was in their en-suite washing his hands.

  ‘I’m not staying here,’ Rushe called back.

  Pointing her toes, Flick scrutinised her legs. ‘I’ll put out.’

  ‘Généreux de votre part.’

  Antoine came into view in the open bedroom doorway at the same instant Rushe materialised.

  ‘Get outta here,’ Rushe said, moving to equidistance between her and the trespasser, blocking Flick from Antoine Mercier’s line of sight.

  ‘She is très sexy, une belle femme.’

  ‘Fuck off or give me the information, messenger boy.’

  ‘You are not proud of your woman?’ Antoine asked.

  ‘He’s très proud, believe me,’ Flick said.

  ‘Spirited.’

  Antoine sauntered into the room, causing Rushe to move in toward him. If Mercier tried to challenge Rushe’s superiority here, he was going to lose.

  But Serendipity was still in trouble, and the only way they had a chance of helping her was to play Antoine’s game, at least for now.

  ‘Say your piece and get out of here,’ Flick said, getting to her feet.

  ‘I am not the one going somewhere, ma chère.’

  Antoine handed Rushe a folded slip of paper, which her love opened and read. Blinking his attention back up to Antoine, the two men locked focus.

  ‘Oui?’ Antoine asked, and Rushe nodded once.

  Flick approached her lover, and though she knew he would be aware of her, she tucked her hand into his back pocket to indicate her proximity. Out of nothing more than provocation, Mercier lingered over checking out her figure. Rushe growled and took a step toward the Frenchman, so Antoine slunk back and disappeared from their turf.

  ‘Lover?’ she asked, grazing her lips on his upper arm.

  ‘We’re leaving.’

  This was an order, a command to be obeyed. The specifics of where they were going or why eluded her, but he was taking her along for the ride. Flick wouldn’t argue now because no matter the destination or motivation, she wanted to be at Rushe’s flank, and for now at least, he was allowing her to be there.

  The car would be untraceable and their luggage was sparse, but Rushe would have everything that they could possibly require. During their last adventure, Rushe had almost lost his life. There had been no time for them to recover from that ordeal, either physically or emotionally. Nevertheless, as they drove on for hours Flick saw the steely resolve encompassing Rushe, demonstrating that he was ready for anything.

  ‘What do they want us to do?’ Flick asked, for what had to be the tenth time. Rushe still didn’t answer.

  Her reluctance to leave her family was appeased when Rushe made it clear to her that Antoine was there to maintain the threat, but physical harm was unlikely. Antoine had ingratiated himself with the Hughes family, and he wanted that friendship to continue. The longer he was there, maintaining the association, the longer he could have Rushe do his bidding. The life
of privilege and luxury that he was living while in the Hughes home would appeal to him as well.

  Flick could have stayed with her family, but Rushe wanted her at his side and she’d fought for that honour, so she wasn’t going to give up this chance now.

  Antoine had resided with her family for two weeks, and he had been a part of their lives for a month. If it had been his intention to indiscriminately hurt them then he’d have done it already; he’d had ample opportunity.

  Rushe also highlighted to her that Antoine wasn’t the type to do any dirty work himself. His family had employed Victor, and his lowlife thugs, so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the unseemly side of trafficking. Profits were what the Merciers wanted, not blood spatter on their designer suits.

  ‘Do you know where Serendipity is?’ she asked. ‘Where they’re holding her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Can we be sure that she’s still alive?’

  ‘No, but I’ve asked to see her, for confirmation of her condition,’ Rushe said. ‘Keeping her alive gives them leverage, and they’ll be more likely to sell her on when they’ve finished anyway, rather than killing her outright.’

  Flick nodded, recalling Serendipity’s beauty and grace. She would definitely fetch a high price.

  ‘I’m not afraid,’ she said, and Rushe glanced away from the road toward her. ‘What we’re doing is right, Rushe. I’m not afraid of them.’

  ‘You keep your mouth shut. I don’t want you mouthing off at anyone. You’re gonna do what you’re told, Kitten. You speak only when I speak to you, only with my permission.’

  ‘But—‘

  ‘I can get both of us out of this alive. Having you with me is a risk, but it’s less of a risk than having you out there unprotected. You are not to leave my side, and you are to speak only when I speak to you.’

  Rushe was a stickler for laying out the rules, as was emphasised by him saying the same thing twice, and miscommunication was another of his peeves. ‘I trust you, Lover. But I will act in our best interest.’